The Telltale Signs of Secrets and Lies
by princesspay10
Summary: Her hair, her eyes, her personality... Hermione never meant to hurt anyone. She thought she was protecting everyone including Ron, her baby girl Rose, herself, and even him. But when a blatant lie stares everyone in the face for 4 years it's hard not to get suspicious.
1. The Night The Lie Started

**Ok so this is my first ever fanfiction on this site. Please give reviews and comments. I'd like to know what you all think about this so far. Also keep in mind I do not own any of the characters, J.K. Rowling does. Also this chapter is a memory/flashback, the real story will begin in chapter two. I just thought you might like to know a little bit of a back story before we begin.**

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Hermione Granger was the last one out of the library that night. Honestly, she was surprised she didn't get kicked out since it was way past library closing time. She was getting all of her homework done that night and would turn it in early the next morning so, Harry and her boyfriend, Ron, couldn't cheat off of her. It started becoming unbearable. How would they learn anything if they kept copying down her homework and notes? They both wanted to be Aurors and, they were idiots to believe if they kept copying off her they would achieve high N.E.W.T scores. N.E.W.T.s were coming close (well in a few more months at least) and they would only do their homework at the very last possible second, if even at all. _Boys_, she would never understand them.

She gathered up her things and put them neatly in her bag, pausing only for a second to look at the clock on the wall. 2:07 the clock read. Her stomach did little flips and her heart started beating rapidly. She was four hours past curfew and, she did not have Harry's invisibility cloak or the Marauder's Map with her. Someone would surely notice her roaming the corridors at night without permission or without a dire reason. It would probably be better to stay in the library then try to make it back to the dormitories without getting caught. Why hadn't Madam Pince told her it was closing time? She must have seen Hermione before she left. Every single night since they had come back to Hogwarts to repeat their 7th year, Hermione would stay shut up in the library until it closed doing homework or studying for possible pop quizzes after dinner and lessons. The grouchy librarian had always warned Hermione ten minutes prior to closing time to gather up her things and check out the books she wanted to check out. Yet, today she had not and, Hermione was going to pay the price for it. Whether she got caught in the hallways or in the morning sleeping on one of the library couches she was, most likely, going to get a detention.

Hermione decided to risk getting caught in the corridors. There was still a chance that Mrs. Norris or Filch would not catch her, only a small chance but, one that she had to take. The door creaked slightly as she opened it slowly. It took her nearly five minutes to open it enough so she could slip through the door into a corridor. It was pitch black but, she didn't dare use _Lumos_ in fear of causing the portraits to cause a commotion making her an easy target to catch. The tiny hairs on the back of her neck stood up as she walked silently threw the dark halls. It was almost impossible to see anything a foot in front of her. She nearly ran into a wall and a portrait that she accidentally bumped into started muttering loudly about how people need to show more respect. She thought she heard footsteps somewhere around her so; she broke into a jog until she reached The Great Hall entrance.

Hermione marveled how far she had gotten without getting caught. All she had to do was go up the stairs and down a hallway to be safe and sound in her dormitory common room. Without a backwards glance she sprinted up the stairs. All of a sudden she felt herself falling rapidly down them. She fell with a thump on the floor, her breath knocked out of her, and her ankle throbbing. An alarm sounded the second she landed. She tried to crawl up the steps but they kept sliding her down. It must be the same enchantment keeping unwanted boys out of the girl's dormitories. The alarm blared louder and louder as she kept trying to get up the stairs. Then, she heard it. Someone was running and shouting. The person was coming in her direction, trying to catch the naughty student out of bed so late. She got up as fast as she could, wincing at the pain in her ankle. She limped towards the way she came from but, it was no use. Her pursuer was getting closer and she would make less noise staying where she was than trying to hop around on one foot and making whimpering noises every time her ankle jerked around too much.

A tear slid down Hermione's cheek. She didn't know what she was crying for. Maybe it was because she made it so close to being safe. After all, it wasn't like she was doing anything wrong in the first place, for once. All she was doing was homework, not smuggling a dragon in the castle or going on midnight strolls to visit Hagrid. They had never been caught for those things, which was funny because she was definitely going to now. Maybe she could pretend to be sick and need to visit Madam Pomfrey or better yet play the whole Savior card thing. Anyone would be sympathetic and, she could full body-bind and put a silencing charm on Mrs. Norris quite easily if she came around. All she had to do was hope it was someone other than Filch, who had no compassion for any of the children what so ever, especially someone who was in league with Harry Potter. That was highly unlikely because his cat couldn't shout and rarely any of the Professors patrolled corridors, unless there was something threatening to attack the school. Unfortunately, for once, in the past eight years nothing was trying to harm any of the students of Hogwarts.

"I'll catch you, you stupid punk!" Filch's voice echoed thorough the hallway opposite of her. _So this is it _she thought, _I don't even have a chance to get away_. She hoped he wouldn't see her but, that would be a miracle. Hermione stood in silence as she waited for him to catch her.

She saw him coming and was just ready to give herself away just to hurry up the process but, as he came closer she saw the person and, it wasn't Filch. She couldn't exactly see who it was but, it definitely wasn't him. The boy who ran towards her was much too young, and, it looked like he was running away from someone, not trying to catch them. The boy seemed to notice her, too.

"Come on he's coming," He shouted to her as he ran across the long hallway towards her.

"I-I can't, my-my ankle," Hermione stuttered as tears fell down her face. As she said this, the boy ran faster towards her. He was extremely determined to get her safely away, as well. He was finally by her side and picked her up gently. She was surprisingly light. Thankfully, she only slowed him down a little bit.

Hermione could hear Filch's shouts louder every second. Somehow, he was gaining on them very quickly. He looked over the boy's shoulder and saw the most frightening sight. Filch was only a few feet away from them and his eyes were filled with angry, red flames.

"Run! Run! He's coming!" Hermione shouted in the boy's ear. She could tell that she had startled him because he jumped and started picking up the pace a little bit. The boy panted slightly, and Hermione wondered how long he had been running. It had been a while since she first heard Filch's first shouts. The boy must have had really great endurance or was running on a large amount of adrenaline. He probably had both factors that put the odds in his favor. He seemed very muscular and fit as she kept bumping into his chest and stomach as he ran with her in his arms.

Filch had fallen behind again, which gave the boy an opportunity to slow down a bit. Hermione frowned, hoping they would find somewhere to hide quickly before he caught up again since; she was getting nauseous from being bounced around so much.

"Only a bit further," The mystery boy mumbled. It was hard to talk when he was out of breath already.

They zig zagged around corridors and made sharp turns every so often. It made Hermione feel sick and awkward. She had a boyfriend, and obviously she knew he wasn't Ron or Harry for that matter. She did not engage in a conversation but neither had the boy so, she remained silent. After all there was no point in saying thanks if they got caught. She wished she would have paid more attention to the time. If Hermione wasn't trying so hard to make Harry and Ron fail she could have been in her bed fast asleep. She also hoped this was all a bad dream. It wasn't and she knew it. There would be no pain in her ankle if it was. She hoped it was only sprained. She didn't know how to fix a broken bone properly and, it wouldn't get treated until the next morning if it was.

"Think of where you want to go, quick!" The boy shouted breaking her thoughts. She had barely heard him. All she kept thinking was she wanted to be safe and sound in her four-poster bed_. A free snack bar and a hot tub would be nice too_ she thought absentmindedly. She nearly passed out from the pain and nausea she was experiencing when the boy slammed a door shut behind them and she jumped with fright.

The boy put her gently on the bed. She had squeezed her eyes shut but, it wasn't doing anything to help her ankle. He started touching and examining it. He obviously knew what he was doing but, she screamed when he pushed too hard. He rolled his silver eyes but, Hermione didn't see as she still had her eyes shut tightly. How the hell was he supposed to find out what was wrong if she screamed at every single touch? She heard him mutter a healing spell and in an instant the pain receded. She slowly opened her eyes and discovered she was in a room with a four-poster bed that looked exactly like her own. Shelves of snacks and refrigerators full of drinks (Muggle and wizard a like) lined one entire wall. There was a large hot tub with a waterfall cascading from one side of it in the corner of the room. The walls were a sky blue color.

"Wonderful imagination you've got there," the boy said and smirked. He had let her imagine what the Room of Requirement looked like and was extremely disappointed to see that she had absolutely no imagination at all. The only thing that was somewhat cool was the hot tub but even still it was just an ordinary in ground one. He had seen better at some of the vacation resorts he had been to with his family years prior to the start of the war.

"Oh, it's just _you_," Hermione said glumly barely looking _him_ in the face.

"A thank you would be nice. After all I did save you from Filch and fixed your broken ankle," _he_ said coming to sit on the bed with her. She mumbled a thanks but it was inaudible. He brushed one of her stray curls behind her ear stroking her face as he did it. Hermione's face tingled as his hand caressed her face once more.

"I-I…" she started to say but started leaning in towards her. _Oh crap_ she thought as his lips touched hers. He was kissing her soft and gentle. His mouth tasted like mint and chocolate. It was the most irresistible taste in the world and she didn't know why. His tongue explored every surface of the inside of her mouth making her shiver with pleasure. Every place he touched on her body would get hot and tingly. She loved the feeling and yearned for him to touch her more. Her hands raked threw his perfect hair making it slightly messy. He kissed her with a fiery passion and she put in as much effort as he did. He rolled on top of her and started unbuttoning her shirt.

He made her feel perfect. No one had ever made her feel beautiful for who she was.

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**Ok so I know I'm absolutely terrible at writing "love" scenes and maybe in a few years or so I will rewrite it or trash this story all together. I don't know. I don't know when I'll update again probably in this upcoming week or so. Also you may not know what's truly going on between Hermione and this **_**boy**_** (who I'm sure you already know who it is). Don't worry this is just the background story meant for the later HUGE secret and lie. Give me some reviews to see if it is any good so far (at least the writing part).**


	2. Happy April Fool's Everyone

**Thanks for the reviews and adding this story to your favorites list. You inspired me to keep going with this!**

_4 years and 9 months later_

Hermione was just putting the finishing touches on her report on a case she had just gotten involving a suspicious man who was accused of putting the Imperius Curse on an elderly witch. It had taken her a great deal of effort but, it was well worth it. Her boss would be overjoyed to see she finished it a week earlier than what was expected. Hermione worked as an Auror at the Ministry of Magic, and was an excellent one at that. At only 22 years of age she had climbed the ranks to just under the highest ranking Auror, Kingsley Shacklebolt. She had even risen above The Savior, Harry Potter, which many thought that he was mad she had higher seniority over him. In reality he was happy and totally impressed in her achievements.

"Mione, I'm home," Ron yelled as he opened the front door of their tiny three bedroom house. He came home with a large bouquet of roses and a large bunch of balloons in every color imaginable. He opened a cabinet and found an empty vase. He filled it up with water from the sink and put the pretty flowers in it. Where he got the money to buy the dozens of balloons and the roses were beyond Hermione's knowledge. Ron currently did not have a "real" job. He failed miserably at Auror training and, no amount of begging and pleading from Harry, Hermione, or him would help him get in. Everyone in charge of the training deemed him an unworthy wizard to become an Auror. It had devastated him to the point where Hermione had almost quit her job. Once in a while he would work in George's joke shop if they really needed the extra cash but, usually his job was to watch their now four year old daughter Rose when Hermione was off at work. This was the only thing that worked out to their advantage because; Hermione didn't want to put her baby in wizard day care all day long.

"Rosie will love them!" Hermione beamed. It was April 1st Rose's fourth birthday. They were throwing her a surprise birthday party. They couldn't tell her, she would never come out of her room if they did. The thing about Rose was none of the other children in her family got a long with her. She always ended up crying or hurting one of them. No one else but Hermione ever noticed though, which was probably a good thing for everyone.

"Mummy?" Rose's little voice called out from the top of the stairs. "Are those balloons all for me?" She ran down the stairs and jumped into her mother's arms. She had a big smile plastered on her face.

"Yes, angel." Hermione said and shivered. Rose had that 1000 volt smile that made the person who saw it want to do anything for her. That smile haunted Hermione's dreams and thoughts frequently. "Guess, what day it is?" Hermione asked her daughter. Rose's little face scrunched and she chewed on her lip, the same way Hermione did when she was deep in thought.

"My birthday!" Rose shouted happily when she figured it out. Her pale face lit up again. Hermione nodded. The timer on the oven went off and, she went over to fetch Rose her favorite breakfast, chocolate chip pancakes. She would only allow Rose to eat them a few times a month, due to high amounts of carbs and calories. Normally, Hermione would only let her eat them on her birthday but, when Rose had gone to her yearly check-up at St. Mungos the healers had concluded that she was extremely underweight. Hermione explained that she sometimes ate more than her at mealtimes. "Good genes then, I suppose." The healer had said to her. Ever since then Hermione let her eat nearly everything she wanted, even though she barely gained any weight.

Rose ate happily while Hermione cleaned the house and Ron had put up the decorations. When Rose was done Hermione put her dishes in the sink and started brushing her daughter's pretty ringlet curls. When she was done she led Rose up the stairs to get dressed in a pretty emerald sparkly dress. As Hermione watched her change she couldn't believe her baby was already four years old. In seven and a half years from now she would be waving to her on the platform that was right in front of the Hogwarts express. Hermione hugged her daughter and stroked her curls.

"10 more minutes," Ron shouted up the stairs. Hermione jolted back to reality. She quickly ran into her and Ron's bedroom and got changed into a snug fitting purple tank top and black skinny jeans. She realized it was chilly outside and grabbed a black cardigan.

A few minutes later as Hermione walked down the stairs the doorbell rang. Ron went to go answer it. The whole Weasley/Potter clan was standing outside their door. "Fancy seeing you," Harry said and slapped Ron on the shoulder. He led the family into the family room where Rose was sitting on the couch drawing.

"Rosie, doodle let me see what you've been drawing this time!" Mrs. Weasley called out to the pale girl. Rose looked up and handed her grandmother the drawing. "Oh, it's wonderful!" Rose smirked. All the children glared at her, except baby Lily who was barely a year old. The drawing was truly magnificent; it was almost like she took a photograph of a dragon and gave to her grandma. It was so life like. The fire the dragon was breathing out made it look like the paper was in flames. Mrs. Weasley passed the drawing to her son Charlie. He beamed at the drawing. "Rose, do you mind if I keep this?" he asked her. Rose shook her head and smiled. Charlie patted her head and kissed the top of it.

"Go on kids. Go play in the backyard," Ron told the children, trying to get them out of the house.

"We might as well go out, too. It is a beautiful day," Hermione said walking out the door. She didn't mind staying in the house with the rest of the family but, she had to keep an eye out for Rose. Something always happened between her and the other children. It was best to get her out of the situation early on if she could.

Ron looked livid as everyone filed outside. He wanted to have a nice quiet conversation indoors without the kids yelling or screaming. It wasn't much to ask for. Hermione had to ruin everything. He reluctantly followed everyone out muttering swear words under his breath.

Teddy, Victoire, James, and Albus all loved to gang up on Rose. Well, the two older ones made James (who was only a year older than Rose) and Albus (who was a month older than Rose) despise her. Victoire decided Rose wasn't good enough to be her friend because of her unnatural and beautiful hair color. What Victoire said was law to the other kids. They all obeyed her every command. After all she was 1/8 veela and, she only had boy cousins she could play with besides Rose and Lily.

"Let's play tag," Victoire suggested. The boys all nodded in agreement. Rose didn't say a thing. Her Mummy had told her to ignore Vicky if she wasn't doing something she wanted to do. "Rose is _it_." All the children ran in different directions. Rose walked away and sat next to her Auntie Ginny and Uncle Harry looking at Lily with interest.

"Go play, Rosie." Ron said shooing her away from the crowd of grownups. Once Rose was out of earshot he said, "God she's strange, she never plays with children her own age." Everyone laughed. Hermione let out a fake giggle. She felt bad for her angel. She could see the other kids didn't like her very much. She was also ticked off at Ron, who recently started shooing her away from them all the time. "She's intruding upon our grownup time," Ron told her when she questioned him about it a week before. 5-6 days a week Hermione was at work from 8:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. She barely got to see Rose and, now when she got home from work Ron would tell Rose to go away.

"Who wants to sing _Happy Birthday_ and eat cake?" Hermione called out. All the children came running towards the cake shaped like a butterfly. Even though it was Rose's birthday cake, cake was cake. Even Victoire wouldn't deny herself a piece.

Mr. Weasley shut off the lights. The whole family began to sing. Once they were done Rose blew out the four candles and made a wish. Everyone clapped (besides the kids). Uncle Bill whistled loudly. For the first time since the doorbell rang Rose Weasley was smiling her 1000 volt smile that melted everyone's hearts.

"Rose, you get the first piece." Hermione said as she cut part of the purple butterfly wing out for her daughter. Victoire was mad because she wanted the first piece. Everyone besides Aunt Hermione let her. She didn't dare do anything to make Rose upset in front of her mother, either. Hermione could see right through Victoire, unlike the rest of them. She knew that Vicky really pulled the chair out from under Rose at Albus' party even though Victoire claimed it was "on accident".

Rose ate slowly. She got Hermione's brains and knew that the longer she ate her cake the shorter amount of time she had to play with her mean cousins. Sadly, her cake disappeared rather quickly even though everyone was already done enjoying their piece. She stared at her plate for a while until someone swiftly grabbed it and threw it in the nearest trash can.

"Enough, Rose. What's gotten into you? Play with your cousins! NOW!" Ron shouted at her. Everyone became silent, even Lily who was making fussing noises didn't make a peep. Rose's lip trembled. Her Daddy was yelling at her for no reason at all. Didn't he care that Vicky, Teddy, James, and Al didn't want to play with her? Rose was scared and she got up and went by the kids anyways. Her Daddy sometimes hit her really hard when he was mad and yelled at her. Mummy didn't know.

"Widdle baby Rosie," Teddy taunted. "Are you going to cry because your Daddy yelled at you?" Victoire and James started laughing. Albus had no idea why Teddy was being mean. He would have cried if his Daddy yelled at him, too.

"Rose the little baby no one but her Mum likes," Teddy sang. Victoire was laughing so hard tears streamed down her sky blue eyes. Teddy sang it again since it was really getting a kick out of Victoire. He secretly had a crush on her. James and Albus thought he was pushing it too far. Pure hatred showed on Rose's face. Albus got scared and closed his eyes. Rose was so mad she came charging toward Teddy. She rammed her whole body into him. He wasn't prepared for her to do that so, he fell down on his back. Rose started kicking, biting, and scratching him. Teddy screamed. None of the adults looked up since, Lily was throwing a fit. They all assumed it was Lily screaming louder than normal.

Victoire grabbed Rose off of Teddy and sort of tossed her aside. She helped Teddy up. He had a dumbfounded expression on his face; he was 3 years older than Rose. She had managed to tackle him to the ground. "You animal!" Victoire shouted her voice full of rage. "You don't belong in this family, Rose. Your hair is platinum blonde and your eyes are the color of a bar of silver. Your skin is ghostly pale and you are as ugly as hell. Mum was right! You don't look like anything like anyone else in the family, except a sliver of Auntie Hermione! Children are supposed to look like _both_ their Mummys and Daddys and cousins, too!"

It was then Hermione heard the distinct cry of her angel. She ran towards Rose to see what was going on. The kids panicked as they saw Hermione come, especially Victoire. Rose had big crocodile tears sliding down her pale cheeks. "Ok baby. Mummy is here," Hermione said as she scooped Rose up in her arms. She took Rose up to her room and wiped away the tears on her cheeks.

She let Rose cry for a few more minutes. She wouldn't get an audible answer for what happened any other way. "Tell me what happened, Rosie." Hermione said patting her baby on the back.

"Vicky… she-she t-told me I was ugly. She said I didn't belong. S-She said kids are 'posed to look like their M-Mummys and Daddys," Rose sobbed in her mother's arms.

Hermione suddenly got very white. She knew the Weasley family talked behind her back to Ron discussing Rose's parentage. They had even wanted him to get a paternity test done when they saw Rose come out with blonde hair and silver-gray eyes. Ron had refused, due to Hermione's claims that both features came from her side of the family. Ron had insisted it was common knowledge that when brown and blue eyes clashed they made gray. Whether or not the Weasley's believed him was an entire matter altogether. Hermione honestly didn't know if that was true but, in Rose's case it wasn't. At first Hermione had only had a few scary moments where she would believe that her baby could have a father that was not her devoted boyfriend. But, once she saw Rose for the first time everything changed for the worst. Oh, Hermione wanted to tell Ron that Rose was not his child. She honestly did but, things had gotten in the way. First, Ron seemed so happy to find out he was the father of a beautiful, healthy baby girl. Second, Ron had proposed to her seconds after the baby was delivered. He wanted them to truly be together so they could raise the baby as a family and give Hermione and the child a stable home. And third, there was no way she could have told Rose's biological father. He wouldn't have accepted her and, she would be turning down the chance to be happy with Ron.

Unfortunately, Hermione hadn't counted on that fact Rose had barely looked like herself. Rose was a spitting image of her father she had his hair, eyes, skin color, pointed features, and personality traits. Rose had her father's famous smirk and his dazzling smile. She was arrogant, self-centered, ambitious, artistic, cunning, sneaky, and had a knack for picking out the most expensive item in the store. Yes she was_ him_ to a t, no doubt about it.

Hermione remembered hours after she gave birth to Rose she thought, _Yes, Ron I give you a perfectly healthy daughter, who I know for a fact is yours. Happy April Fool's Day!_

**April Fools. Ironic, huh? Well, the father will be revealed in the next chapter but, you may want to read the Harry Books again or see a movie if you still haven't figured it out. Please review! **


	3. Questions and Confusion

Draco Malfoy was sitting in his personal study contemplating if he was going to make an important business transaction. He was the President of his father's company which raked in about two billion Galleons a year. His father had started letting him make the big decisions with the company since, in a few years he would be the full owner. It was sort of a dull job really. All he had to do was sit in an office all day. Sometimes he did paperwork or kept unruly employees in check but, often times he would just sit on the computer all day watching to see if business agreements were accepted and followed through. His mind often wandered and, at that very moment he stared at the _Witch Weekly _magazine on his desk. He had been voted number one in the _Hottest Wizard_ page this week and the Malfoy family had been voted number one for the _Richest Wizarding Family_ page since the magazine had first been written.

"Master?" His personal house elf, Pinksy, said and opened the door. She was wearing a white dress marked with the Malfoy crest and was perfectly clean and healthy. In recent years, some group called S.P.E.W. fought for house elves rights and the Ministry of Magic had put a few laws in place. Now, it was illegal to physically abuse a house elf. They had to be well cared for and given proper garments to wear. Although, wizards could still verbally abuse them and put them in hideous colored clothing; the Malfoy's upheld the law. Some wizarding families had a great desire to get the whole lot of them put in Azkaban for good and, were looking for minor things they could put them back on trial for. Draco and Narcissa Malfoy had been let go almost at once at their trial. Draco made it seem like he was a pathetic child and had no idea what he was doing. Narcissa had saved Harry Potter's life thus making it possible to end the war. Harry was forever in Narcissa's debt and he pleaded with the court them to let her go so, he could make it up to her. What The Savior wanted was law. Draco was let go by default. Lucius Malfoy was, however, not so lucky. He did some truly despicable crimes and, had to go to Azkaban for two years. He was currently on house arrest which was mainly why he let Draco get into the family business so young.

"Master?" Pinksy said again. "The young Mistress is crying, again. I is allowed to help her now?" Pinksy's eyes filled with tears as Draco shook his blonde head no. This whole "young Mistress" thing was getting on his nerves. Actually, he was downright sick of it. Pinksy had been a gift from his girlfriend, Astoria Greengrass, for their one year anniversary together. For the first few months he was sympathetic towards her desire to help this little girl. After all, Pinksy wasn't born into the family so, she was probably sad to leave her old family behind. After a while of hearing things like "I is needing to help young Mistress" and "Young Mistress is crying because her fake family doesn't love her" he would just shake his head no and ignore her. He wanted to get rid of her but, his father had been upset to hear this from his son. "It's a gift from your wife-to-be." _Yeah right_. He wouldn't marry Astoria even if his life depended on it.

There were things about Astoria that he liked, sort of. She was a pureblood, for one and, his family approved of her. She was quite pretty; he loved her raven black hair and aquamarine colored eyes. She was slender and had curves in all the right places but, she wasn't the girl for him. She was mean and blackmailed him if he wasn't doing the things she wanted. She was money hungry and only took the best, which was why she had decided to marry him in the first place. He knew she didn't love him. And there was absolutely nothing he could do about it. His mother and father always kept going on about how they needed a Malfoy heir. If it was up to him he would remain single until the right girl came along. His father laughed at the idea. Narcissa Malfoy told him he was being selfish. He had pleaded and bargained with them if he could do anything to get Astoria out of his life for good. After a good deal of thought they had said, "If somehow you have a child, boy or girl, with someone else" which made his spirits sink. Oviously, he would know if any of his past girlfriends had a child, he only dated his parent's close friend's daughters. If only he knew…

LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL

Hermione waited until everyone left to take Rose downstairs. It wasn't just for her daughter's sake it was for hers. What Victoire said to her baby made her pale and shaky. She didn't want to face anyone looking like that.

"Do you want to open your presents now, princess?" Hermione said to the sweet little girl in her arms. It was a wizard tradition that no one saw what you got for you birthday. That had always made Hermione wonder if the Weasley's were giving Rose the same amount of stuff as the other children. She had always known Mrs. Weasley suspected something. Hopefully she wasn't taking it out on her pretty little princess.

Rose picked up the first present in front of her wrapped in pale pink wrapping paper. She tore off little pieces at a time. Hermione stared at the clock the entire time it took Rose to open the gift. Finally, after 30 minutes, Rose had opened her first present. Her little face scrunched up in a glare and there was that telltale smirk on her face as she looked at the gift in her arms.

"Rosie Posy, what's wrong?" Hermione said. She hated when Rose got like this. It made her think of unhappy thoughts about _him_…

"Mummy, I said I wanted an iPod Touch and they got me a dumb MP3 player. I said I wanted the name brand one but they gave me a-a generic one," Rose whimpered. Tears dotted her slivery eyes again. Hermione didn't even know she knew what the word generic meant.

There were things she knew for certain about her daughter. She was going to be put in Slytherin house, no doubt about it. The Sorting Hat wouldn't even give her a choice. She was a Slytherin down to the last platinum blonde hair on her pretty little head. It also wasn't terribly uncommon for a halfblood to be in that particular house, like it was for a muggle born wizard. She wasn't sure what Ron's reaction would be. He would probably throw a fit and make Headmistress McGonagall put the hat back on her head to be rehoused. She would probably allow Rose to try it on again but, the hat would probably remain firm. Yes she was extremely smart but, she wouldn't get put in Ravenclaw. She was brave but, definitely not a Gryffindor (Hermione would know). Hufflepuff wouldn't even begin to know how to deal with her. She just hoped Ron would get over it eventually.

Rose opened a second present and the same thing happened, again.

Ginny and Harry had given her a few pairs of earrings (along with five outfits) since, her Gramma Jean and Papa David had taken her to get her ears pierced the previous year, when they were watching her. Hermione was appalled they didn't even ask her to come. (Although she would have told them Rose was, under no circumstances, getting her ears pierced). But, they did and, Rose had loved it, besides the "ouchie in her ears." Hermione didn't have the heart to tell her to take them out so the holes would close. This time Rose actually started crying. Hermione didn't know what was going on with her. She was confused because Rose only had two pairs of earrings. She was always begging for more.

"They're not real," she sobbed. Tears flooded her face. "The –the stones… they are f- fake… it's not real gold and gray on the b-backs neither!"

"Shut up! Quidditch is on!" Ron hollered out from the next room. _Peace and quiet, is that too much to ask for? _Ron thought as he chugged down another glass of Ogden's Firewhiskey.

"Ok, Rose. I think we have had a long day," Hermione said as she saw Rose's reaction to Ron's shouts. (She had tried to crawl under the couch) Rose would do better with some sleep. She scooped Rose up and took her back up to her room. She helped her out of her dress and into her blue pajamas with the stars on them. Rose picked out her favorite bedtime story, _Rosie's Rabbit,_ from the large book shelf in the corner of her room. She climbed up on her bed and begged Hermione to read it to her. Hermione couldn't object to her baby. As she was reading she felt her mind wander, to places she wished it would never go to.

Normally, the whole earing thing would have made any other parent laugh. Not Hermione. It felt like her stomach was going up her throat. Rose was becoming more like her father every day. She didn't have the heart to tell Ron. She had thought that maybe she could tell Ginny but, she wasn't ready for that yet. Maybe in a few more years she would tell the whole Weasley and Potter clan. Yeah. That would work. _But someone else would want to know too, not just Ron and his family_, a little voice in her head whispered to her. _Draco Malfoy would probably want to know that he has a daughter, too… even if she isn't worthy enough to his family._

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Hermione woke up the next morning feeling peaceful and content. She was off of work that day and, was going to spend the day in the park with Rose. She got up and opened the curtains, letting the light cascade out into the room. It was a beautiful day. The sun was shining and, there was not a single cloud in the luscious blue sky.

Hermione made blueberry muffins for Rose and her. Ron was going out with the guys and, wasn't going to be home until late. She would get to spend the day with Rose by herself.

"Stay here and eat while Mummy goes and pays the owl for _The Daily Prophet_," Hermione told Rose as she heard an owl hooting and scratching at the front door. Hermione got up of the wooden kitchen chair and walked down the hallway. She opened the door and deposited five Knuts into the pouch on the brown Ministry owl's leg. Hermione threw the paper on the kitchen table not even bothering to read it. It was the first time in a long time she was going to have Rose to herself and, she was definitely going to make the most out of it.

Hermione took her baby girl to the little wizard park near their house. There were a lot of people there but, there usually were on a nice day. Rose absolutely loved the blue swings. Hermione liked to put her in the baby swing so she wouldn't fall out. It had made Hermione feel safer. She almost cried the first day Rose wanted to try out the bigger ones (the swings that were only just a strip of rubber).Hermione had let her but, she still normally went on the little ones. Rose had just decided recently she was too big for those swings and would only use the ones that the older kids used.

Hermione sighed as she pushed Rose on the swings. Rose giggled as Hermione pushed her higher and higher. She loved when Rose laughed. Suddenly, Rose stopped and, Hermione instantly knew something was wrong. Hermione stopped pushing her daughter and let the swing go on its own, watching it get lower and lower until Rose put her feet on the ground.

"Mummy, they're pointing at you," Rose said, in a very low voice. Hermione glanced around and saw two middle aged witches staring and pointing at her and Rose. They were each holding _The Daily Prophet_ in their hands and pretended to read it when Hermione looked over at them.

"Come on Rosie, let's go home. I'll take you to get ice cream later if we leave now," Hermione said to Rose who smirked when she mentioned the ice cream. "We are going to Apparate home, ok? I want you to hold onto me very tight or, you could get hurt. Hermione would have normally walked home with Rose but, she needed to get home quickly to see something.

They both arrived in the front yard with the cracking sound of Apparating. Hermione ran into the house and set Rose on the floor. She ran to the kitchen table and got _The Daily Prophet_. Hermione's eyes scanned the cover page:

**Rose Weasley: A Weasley After All? What is Hermione Granger Hiding?**

_Rose Weasley's parentage has been a mystery to all of us Fleur Delacour (now Weasley) told us. There could be a slight chance that Ronald Bilius Weasley is the father after all but, where does the blonde hair and gray eyes come from? Surely, not from biological mother Hermione Granger (now Weasley)…_

Hermione couldn't bear to read on any longer. She looked down to see her daughter's little face plastered on the front cover. Hermione didn't care about what the article said. All she cared about was that Rose was on the cover. Her heart nearly stopped when the picture of her little girl showed her sparkling silver eyes, her platinum blonde hair, and the huge smirk on her face that she was showing to the whole wizarding world. Those were the telltale signs revealing Hermione's biggest secret and lie.

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**So, I wasn't completely happy with this chapter but tell me what you think. Reviews make me want to keep going on this! I don't own any of the characters, J.K. Rowling does.**


	4. Doesn't Anyone Read the Paper?

**Don Da Don, the chapter you've all been waiting for. Also thank you BelleBelles for showing me how to break up paragraphs so they look clean! **

O.o.O

Hermione Weasley was scared out of her mind. It was only a matter of time before Ron found out about Rose. Really, she figured he was the only one she would have trouble telling. Thankfully, he had not mentioned anything when he came home from the Potter's house. He hadn't said much of anything at all, now that she was thinking about it.

Ron had walked in the house about 11:00 at night extremely drunk. He had a terrible history with drinking that only Hermione knew about. He had been a Firewhiskey addict for God knows how long and got extremely aggressive when he drank it. He had almost hit Hermione with a baseball bat when he was highly intoxicated one night. She had moved out for a month taking baby Rose (who was one years old) with her, safely away from him. He had begged and pleaded with her to come back, and promised to stop drinking. He had even gone to St. Mungos to get treatment so, he could make it up to Hermione. She had been so happy that he decided to take charge of his life and put his family in front of his addiction. Now he was converting back to his old ways. He could not let Hermione see him like that. She may leave him again and, he definitely did not want that. He went up to bed before she could even ask how his day with the guys had gone.

O.o.O

Ron woke up with a dreadful hangover. What had he even been doing the previous night to make him feel this bad? His vision was a bit hazy as he thought of the night with Harry and the Weasley boys. They had had a lot of fun. He remembered playing some sort of game but, he could not remember any of the details. His memory kept throwing blanks. He remembered Bill had won and vomited all over the place. It smelled terrible and, Harry was livid. He had all warned them to knock it off before someone threw up again. Ron didn't know if they had listened to Harry's warning though. George had passed out on the black leather couch in Harry's family room, making all the boys laugh. They had even started writing on his face. Harry had quit after one… what? He remembered Charlie acting strange. He was very giggly and was jumping up and down cheering for Bill. What were they doing? Ron racked his brain again. He remembered driving home... That was scary; he really didn't know what was going on while he was driving. He remembered swerving and going through a field… was he trying to take a shortcut? He had almost crashed into a tree- or at least that's what appeared in his mind. Why couldn't he remember? He somehow got into the house, but couldn't remember getting out of the car or even where the car was for that matter. The pain in his head was unbearable and his stomach hurt terribly.

He sat up in bed and, glanced around to see his surroundings. His vision was slightly blurry but, he didn't think anything was weird about it. He was in his bed with his clothes on from the night before. _That's funny_; he thought he had changed into his pajamas. Hermione was not by his side but, that wasn't terribly unusual. What day was it? There was some sort of humming noise that filled the room. He realized it was just the hum of Rose's baby monitor on the dresser. He knew, at once, Hermione had gone to work (the monitor wouldn't be on if she was up and about in the house somewhere). Hopefully, she had made breakfast for him and Rose. He was very hungry and, Hermione always made the best stuff. Also, he didn't feel like making anything at the moment. His stomach lurched as he slowly rose up of the bed and groped toward the stairs.

What was going on with him? His hands were shaky and he had almost fallen down the stairs twice. His head was spinning and he felt dizzy as he walked towards the refrigerator. He opened the stainless steel door and started moving things around. It appeared Hermione had not made them anything but, he kept moving the contents until his hand found a large red bottle. He pulled out the bottle; it seemed to be calling his name. He poured the orange liquid into a glass and started drinking it. Instantly, he felt better- he felt more alive. He drained the glass in an instant and poured himself another one. He was on his eighth glass when a little voice interrupted him.

Rose could not read the label on the red bottle that said Ogden's Old Firewhiskey but, she was smart enough to know what it was. Her Mummy had told her it wasn't for kids so, she couldn't have any. She said it wasn't for Daddy either, except on special occasions. Hermione had made it clear to Rose that Ron wasn't EVER allowed to drink it when he was watching her. She told Rose to remind him that he wasn't supposed to drink that if he was. If it became a problem she could floo her at work but, Mummy was very busy and Daddy would probably stop when he heard his little girl telling him not to drink that bad stuff. Rose had to tell him more often than not and, he always obeyed. "Mummy said you're not 'posed to be drinkin' that bad drink when you're watching me," Rose said slyly. She liked telling him off. It made her feel superior in a way.

"Why the hell are you down here? You didn't tell me you were coming down!" Ron said in a demanding and high voice.

"I called and called but, you didn't answer. I looked in your room but, you weren't there so I figured you were down here and couldn't hear me," Rose looked at the floor. Why wasn't her Daddy happy to see her? "Are you going to make me breakfast? Anything is fine," she said timidly.

"Why, would I make you breakfast?" Ron shouted. His eyes were glazed over. Rose got scared. She was really hungry, though. Mummy wouldn't be home for hours. She didn't know how to use the stove and, she couldn't even reach the cabinet where the bowls were to eat cereal. The pantry door had a child lock on it and, the fruit was on the top shelf of the refrigerator.

"I'm hungry," Rose was on the verge of tears.

"That's all you've got to say? You're hungry? So what? I went hungry for days when I was a boy!" Ron shouted drunkenly.

"I'm hungry!" Rose screamed at the top of her lungs. Maybe this would bring her Daddy back to his senses.

"You brat. I'm going to teach you a lesson that you'll never forget," Ron said. He glared at her and marched towards her. He was going to slap her really hard. That would show her who the boss of the house was now.

As he was going to reach out and grab her, he tripped over the trash can. Its contents flew everywhere. He would definitely get her once he was done picking everything up off the floor. Hermione would be furious if he just left everything there. He picked up the first thing in front of him and was startled to see Rose smirking in front of him. It was yesterday's _Dailey Prophet_. He read the caption and then the article.

"What the hell!" He screamed at the top of his lungs (so loud that the neighbors down the block could hear him).

Ron calmly went to the silverware drawer and pulled out the biggest knife he could find.

O.o.O

Lucius Malfoy was bored off his behind. This stupid house arrest thing was annoying the crap out of him. He had nothing to do in a house that had everything. For the first six months he would watch T.V., mainly Quidditch, all day when he wasn't working at home. He eventually got all strikes in bowling every single time so, he had no fun playing in the alley in their house. He was definitely getting to old to actually play Quidditch with Draco in their backyard stadium. Reading wasn't particularly his thing even though he owned every wizarding book ever published. He also didn't like being uninformed about happenings in the Ministry or anywhere else for that matter. His wife, Narcissa Malfoy, had suggested getting a subscription of _The Daily Prophet_ (because until now, the Malfoy's had always known what was going on in both sides before the war). Unfortunately, he was dreadfully behind. There had to be at least twenty stacked on his desk.

_Well, better to start now then never_, he thought and picked up the first one on the stack. It was just another stupid story on the Weasley family. He was starting to get sick of hearing about how "Hermione Weasley got promoted" or "Harry Potter our Savior had another damn kid." Lucius was about to flip the page when the picture on the front caught his eye. He studied the young girl with interest. Where had he seen her before? He closed his eyes and emptied his mind. Nothing came to him.

It was then when he read the article his heart nearly stopped. He quickly fumbled threw the drawers in his desk. _Where is that damn picture? _Finally, he had found what he had been looking for. It was a picture of Draco from when he was about five years old. He was wearing the exact same smirk the little girl was.

"Narcissa!" Lucius screamed.

O.o.O

Ron Weasley had the knife in his hand waiting for her to move. How would he kill her? There were many ways considering she was only four years old. He honestly just wanted to get it over with. _The faster the better_. Hermione wouldn't even have to know. He could make it seem like an accident. Maybe, he would even clean up after and file a missing wizard report. Hermione would be devastated that he had let their little girl wander off. But, they always found love in the end when they fought. It was all Rose's fault. He wouldn't have to make his dear wife suffer if she was his biological daughter. Hermione would probably understand though. After all she had to carry this devil child for nine months, not even knowing that the baby was not her wonderful husband's child as well. _I'm sorry Hermione but, this is for the best._

He stalked towards Rose like he was a lion and she was his prey. She inched back unaware of what he was going to do. That was when he lunged at her. He knocked her down and she let out a high pitched scream. He laughed at the sound of it. He would make this little girl suffer (the way he was right now) and kill her slowly and painfully. He was doing Hermione a big favor getting rid of this little ferret… where had he thought of that animal, even he didn't know. He picked her up and threw her into the wall. It had made a crashing sound when her body smashed into the wall. He liked that sound. The sound of knowing she couldn't fight back.

"Mummy, help, Mummy make him stop!" Rose shouted as she crumpled onto the floor unable to move. She hurt so badly. Why was her Daddy hurting her? Daddys were supposed to protect their little girls.

Ron pushed her into a vase that shattered when she landed on it. The glass shards ripped the back of her pajamas and cut her back. She cried and cried. She tried to get up and move away from the shards that were biting her. She managed to sit up but, Ron pushed her into the floor again. The sharp things were getting her once more.

"Mummy! Mummy! Help!" Rose shouted as Ron punched her in the stomach. He kicked her and she skidded across the floor, bumping her head on the wall. Thick, red, blood dripped down the side of her face. She had started feeling a little bit dizzy and, her whole body felt like it was on fire. Tears flowed down her face. When will the pain end?

As Ron was about to finish her off, the helpless little girl cried, "Help anyone! Please, I need you!"

O.o.O

"Master, you don't understand! Young Mistress is in serious trouble! She needs, Pinksy, sir!" Pinksy the house elf cried at Draco, who was doing his best to ignore her. Leave it to Pinksy to ruin his day.

The house elf was throwing a fit on the floor, banging her fists onto the hard white marble. She desperately wanted to help the young Mistress with her life but, Master Draco was telling her otherwise. What should she do? It was then when Pinksy gathered up her courage. "Pinksy serves the noble house of Malfoy and, when young Mistress is in trouble Pinksy helps her, sir!"

Before Draco could utter another work Pinksy was gone. The stupid house elf. Maybe this time his parents would let him get rid of her, once and for all. Although, he highly doubted it, it was worth a shot to ask. He was just about to get up to find his parents, when they barged into the room.

His father looked extremely mad and his mother looked hurt. He didn't know what was going on.

"Why didn't you tell us?" His mother yelled at him.

"What are you talking about?" he questioned.

"Don't you play dumb with me, Draco Lucius Malfoy! Why didn't you tell us you were having a 'relationship' with Hermione Granger?"

"Merlin, Mother, it was only one night!" he shouted. Lucius looked furious. "Wait, how do you know that?" Draco questioned. He had never told anyone in his entire life.

"You didn't you know… with her, did you?" Lucius said icily. Draco was speechless. How the hell did his parents know? His mother looked hopeful but, his father looked like he was about to kill someone.

"It was only one time, ok!? I know I trashed the Malfoy name and whatever but, there is no use on bringing it up now. It happened like five years ago!" Draco shrieked.

"Oh, I know you did, Draco. And, this is a perfect time to bring it up now," Lucius said and handed him the _Daily Prophet_ article.

"So what?" Draco said after reading the article. He honestly didn't care if Ron Weasley was the real father of Hermione Granger's little girl or not.

"Draco!" Narcissa whined. His father stared at the floor. "This little girl is four years old," she said pointing to the picture of Rose.

"I don't understand why that matters," Draco said. Fear started welling up in his chest.

"It takes nine months to have a baby and this little girl is four years old," Narcissa said, a single tear falling down her cheek. She put the picture of the young Draco next to the picture of Rose.

He looked at the two pictures. He saw identicle smirks, the same color eyes, the Malfoy blonde hair. The pictures were almost mirror images except, you could tell one of them was a bit younger and one was a girl; the girl's features were a bit softer, not as pointed, too. "No…" Draco whispered. He put his hands on his face. _What have I done?_

Before anyone could say anything else someone had emergency flooed them. The man that stepped out of the fireplace was a healer (recognizable by his white robes and red hat). "Mr. Draco L. Malfoy, you need to come with me now. It's extremely urgent."

Draco had no other choice than to follow him and, he was secretly glad he wouldn't have to face his parents about this "matter" quite yet.

O.o.O

Draco had felt like he was going to throw up before he flooed. Now, he felt like he was definitely going to throw up. The healer had handed him a clip board and told him to fill out the necessary information. He didn't know how to fill out any of it because he didn't know what he was there for. He politely asked one of the healers who came out of a room (it sounded like a little kid was screaming in the room) what he was there for.

"Oh!" she said. "You were very lucky indeed Mr. Malfoy. Your house elf, if she hadn't been there in time. Oh I don't know what would have happened. You see Mr. Weasley would have killed her. He was very close to making the fatal blow with his knife. Poor little girl, I hope this was the only time she was abused by this um… I'm assuming family friend," Draco stood there shocked with his mouth open. "Don't worry he's in custody and, his trial is in two weeks to see if he gets sent to Azkaban. Oh and you can watch the procedure through the window if you want," The young healer witch said, pointing to the window a few feet away from them.

Draco felt like he was walking through jelly as he slowly got to the window. The sight he saw nearly broke his heart. Four healers held the little girl's limbs down on the hospital table so she wouldn't move. Another healer was holding her head and pouring dozens of potions into the girl's tiny mouth. Someone was injecting needles into her little thighs and, a sixth person was muttering spells at her. Her face was red and blotchy from the tears that were ever falling from her silver eyes. He could see the big gash on her forehead from where her head crashed into the wall. She was screaming in between potions that were forced down her throat. She looked so scared and vulnerable as he watched from the window. Her fists were clenched tightly in little round balls and, she was trying so hard to get off the table. It was the child in _The Daily Prophet_, it was _his child_.

Two healers were guarding the door of the room Rose was currently in. Draco's parental instincts kicked in and he desperately wanted to help and comfort her, to tell her it was going to be alright.

"You have to let me see her!" He shouted at the two healers that were guarding the door.

"No visitors are allowed inside that room. You have to wait until the procedure is over with and, the person gets moved into another room," the fat male healer said.

"You don't understand…"

"I'm sorry no one, except a healer can go in that room," the man reminded him.

Draco Malfoy always got what he wanted no matter what. This situation was not going to be an exception. He was sure of that. "_Stupefy_!" he yelled, stunning the two healers. He tried to open the door but, unfortunately it was locked. "_Alohamora_."

The door had not opened. Instead, a blaring alarm rang. The door must have been rigged so it couldn't be opened by the simple spell. Draco banged on the door trying to get in. He used every spell he could think of to somehow either open the door or blast it into smithereens.

"Restrain him!" A voice shouted to a group of healers.

"Expelliarmus!" One of them shouted. Draco did not have enough time to counteract the spell. His wand flew out of his grasp and, into the healer's hand. He lunged at the man but several others held him down.

"You've got to let me see her!" Draco shouted, he was close to tears. He tried to fight back against the healers but, it was one to twelve. Once he managed to push one off of him another took his/her place.

"You don't understand… I never even knew…" Draco mumbled and collapsed onto the blue tiled flooring.

O.o.O

**This chapter is dedicated to DawnOfRenalice and kirsten88tennis for being great friends and supporters of this story. I know it probably annoys you when 90% of our conversations are about this story and, you're probably sick of me reminding you to read it. Thanks for being awesome friends and listening to my whole speech of ideas !**


	5. A First for Everything

**I'm sooo sorry I haven't updated in a while. I've just been really busy lately. It may take me up to two weeks to update again. Maybe longer but, I WON'T abandon this story! I promise! Reviews are highly appreciated; I really want to know what you think of this story so far!**

O.o.O

_Hermione giggled as he touched her. He could see the lust in her chocolate brown eyes as he played with her hair. This was Hermione Granger, the girl who had despised him for all those years. She was the girl who had visited his dreams, teasing him. He couldn't bear to not have her any longer. No one would know. Plus, they were both of age and, he was free to make his own choices. Her hair smelled like raspberry shampoo. It was highly intoxicating. He pulled her into a kiss. She didn't fight back; she embraced it with a passion. He kissed her over and over again. She never objected. It was after that he couldn't help himself. He had wanted her so badly and, now she was actually letting him. Their bodies had fit so perfectly together. Hermione's face beamed with pleasure, and he was sure his looked the same. Draco hadn't thought about the consequences. They hadn't even taken the necessary precautions. _

Draco woke up abruptly, startled. He hadn't thought of that night with Hermione in over four years, much less ever dreamed about it. He looked around the room. Where was he? He glanced around and took in his surroundings. It was pure white from ceiling to floor, with no decoration what so ever on the walls. The room was extremely tiny; it was smaller than his bathtub. He was lying on a bed in the center of the small room. The only other things that were there were two blue cushioned chairs and a sink with a cabinet under it. He pondered why he was in a hospital room. Nothing seemed to be wrong with him. He stared at the blank walls absentmindedly, and thought he heard a child scream. Then, everything came flooding back. The little girl- _his child- _was in the room he was trying to open. That girl, who was scared to death and abused, was _his_… He had to see if she was ok.

He slowly got off the bed and winced at the pain in his head. They had given him some sort of potion to knock him out; he was sure of it. He was going to hex the whole lot of them when he was done with this place. His hand reached into the pocket of his black designer jacket and searched for his wand. Then he remembered he didn't have it. Those damn healers had taken it away from him. He wished he had been quicker and stunned all of them before they could confiscate his wand. He slammed open the door, marched out into the hallway, and put on the meanest glare he could make on his face.

"Oh, Mr. Malfoy, you're awake. Here is you're wand. I'm sure you'll need it sometime soon," An elderly healer said and handed Draco back his wand. "Oh, and you are allowed to see that little girl now; her procedure is over."

"I don't know where she's at…" he mumbled.

"Oh, well, then, I'll take you to her," the healer said, smiling. "Well, come on, now." She said to an opened mouthed Draco and motioned him to follow her through the hallway.

Draco shuffled through the hallway after her, his arms hanging loosely at his sides. He was a bit reluctant to follow her and a little bit nervous, too. His heart thumped irregularly in his chest, his stomach squirming.

The elderly healer led him to the elevator and pushed the number waited in silence as the elevator slowly climbed upwards. It had taken them five minutes to reach level 28 (the elevator was going pretty slow now a days). The witch led him through the hallways and around corners. Dozens of doors lined both sides of the walls. There had to be at least 500 rooms on the floor alone. Hopefully someone could guide him back to the elevator because; he had no idea to get back to it to it again.

The healer witch had stopped and Draco wasn't paying attention. He had nearly run into her. Before she opened the door she turned to him, "Mr. Malfoy, this girl has experienced major trauma and, well… let's just say she has screamed nonstop for the past hour and will only allow female healers into her room. Just don't be disappointed if she is scared for a while. Although, you are her father and, she probably won't act any different around you than she normally does but… just in case."

_I've never met her. I don't know how she would react to me. _"Does her mother know?" Draco blurted out.

"No, not yet. It's sort of a federal crime to tell an Auror there is something wrong [and they leave work] if someone else can do something first. We will contact her in three hours, when her shift ends. I wish you the best of luck, Mr. Malfoy." She unlocked the door. "Oh, and I suppose I'll notify you when she gets here so… you can… be prepared."

Draco nodded, thankful, that she understood that they didn't talk. The witch gave him an encouraging smile, turned around, and walked down the hallway, disappearing as she turned around a corner.

Draco stared at the white door for a long time before he made his decision to go in. He opened the door slowly, as to not make any noise, and walked into the room. It was about the size of the one he was in except it had a lot more color. Each wall was painted a different hue of blue and had a large picture of a different jungle animal on it. The bed was a lot smaller and had green sheets and a green and blue comforter on it. There was a toy box and a bookshelf with children's books in it. As he looked around he saw her. The little blonde girl. She looked a bit sickly and tired. She was only wearing a pair of pink flowered underwear and a white long sleeved pajama top. The second she saw him she retreated to a shadowy spot in the corner of the room, much to his dismay.

_Well I suppose she isn't screaming,_ he thought and sat on green tiled floor. There was no use standing when he would be much more comfortable on the floor. After all, he didn't know how long he would be there.

O.o.O

Rose didn't know what to make of this man. He wasn't hurting her or poking her or trying to shove yucky juice in her mouth. He was different from the rest of them. All the others had tried to grab her, like her Daddy, and force her to come out of hiding. She was scared of these men but, he was different. He didn't have on the long white jackets the other people had on, for one. He also wasn't wearing those silly red hats. One of them had even asked her if she wanted one. He just sat on the ground staring at the tiles. He looked up at her a few times and caught her eye but, she looked away quickly. When he went back to staring at the ground, she stared back at him. He was wearing an expensive black jacket and black pants, which were expensive as well; she had liked it at once. Then, she noticed something peculiar about him, something that she had never seen on another person before. She carefully crawled out of her hiding place and scooted next to him.

"What's your name?" she asked in a very small voice. There was a nervous edge to her tone and, she winced when he first spoke.

"Err… Draco. Draco Malfoy," he said. She could tell something was wrong with him. He looked like he had seen a monster or something as he looked at her. She didn't want to pry so; she didn't ask what the problem was.

"Do you still get teased, Mr. Mouthboy?" she asked, hoping he wouldn't get mad at her for asking that. She didn't know what would happen to her if he got mad. She hoped he wasn't as violent as her Daddy.

"No. What would I get teased about?" he asked, confused.

"Well…" She climbed on his lap catching him off guard. Rose took a lock of her curly blonde hair and put it next to Draco's equally whitish blonde head. "You have ugly hair like me," she said and sat down in in his lap.

O.o.O

Rose told Draco all about how Victoire and Teddy had teased her at her birthday party and, how they said she didn't belong in the family because, she didn't look like anyone. It made her really sad and, Mummy was acting strange. She told him she felt safe with him in the room. She also asked where her Mummy was. Draco told her Hermione would come and see her after she was done at work and assured her that she had beautiful hair. That made her smile.

"Will you and Mummy protect me?" she asked nuzzling her face into his chest. "Just in case Daddy hurts me again?" she asked innocently.

"Of course, Rose. I will always protect you," he told her, stroking her platinum curls. He gazed into her silver eyes fondly. She smiled brightly and flung her arms around him. She yawned and snuggled into him.

_Was that why Hermione had taken N.E.W.T.s that December instead of in June? Why wouldn't Hermione tell him?_ She must have been scared; she was so young when she got pregnant. He could have helped her through everything. It was his child as well. I mean, his parents would have been mad (well, probably furious) but, they would have gotten over it eventually. He would have even helped her tell Ron or, even stayed out of mostly everything in the baby's life if she didn't want him to come to any parties or get together they were having. _Why had she kept this a secret after all these years?_ He didn't even know the sleeping child in his arms and, she didn't know him either. This whole mess wouldn't have happened if he was in her life. First of all, the Weasel… oh, the Weasel was going to pay dearly for nearly killing Rose. If he did not go to Azkaban for abusing a poor helpless little girl Draco was probably going to kill him himself.

He looked at the little girl who had fallen asleep. She was so perfect laying there, her little arms still around his chest. Her stomach rose and fell rhythmically as she breathed. Her little red lips curled into a smile. He loved the way her little curls fell into perfect blonde spirals swirling down her back. He noticed her shirt stuck up at the bottom, exposing her lower back. He went to pull it down but then saw it was covering a huge purple bruise. His fists clenched in response to seeing it. He had only known her for a short period of time but, he absolutely adored her already. He vowed to protect her from this day forward. She was his and no one, not even her mother, could take that away from him.

O.o.O

Hermione had a rather boring day at work. She worked on her computer for a while writing a report on a dumb case that came in a few days before. She wished she could actually go out on missions and fight the Dark Arts. Unfortunately, only the lower ranking Aurors got to do any type of field assignments (unless something terrible was happening but, since the fall of Voldemort, a few years prior, nothing major had happened in a while). She had finished an hour before her shift was supposed to end and watched the clock's arm tick around the circle until it hit 6:00 o'clock. She shoved everything in her black satchel before Apparating into her family room.

Everything was eerily quiet and, the place was a mess. It wasn't terribly odd for everything to be all over the floor. Rose usually made Ron play shopping or build forts with the furniture. This time was different. Her good vase (the one Molly Weasley had given her when Rose was born to put real roses in) was shattered all over the floor, tinged red.

"Ron?" Hermione called out, getting scared. "Rose?"

No one answered. She looked out the back door but, they weren't there either. Ron had never taken Rose anywhere before when she was at work. She frantically glanced around the kitchen, dining room, and living room. _Where are they?_ She thought. She was going to go check if they were upstairs and walked into the hallway. She nearly missed it but, she turned back uncertain of what she saw. There it was, on one of the walls. Dark red dried blood about halfway up. It looked as if it had trickled down onto the floor, before it had dried.

"Rose!" she screamed. Tears cascaded down from her chocolate brown eyes and onto her rosy cheeks. She fell onto her knees trembling. She didn't know where her family was or, if they were alive or not. All she knew was her baby was hurt or – no Rose was alive- somewhere not knowing where her Mummy was.

The floo ring sounded. She could barely compose herself to answer the fire place. Maybe it was Rose and Ron, but she highly doubted it. Still, that was the only reason why she went to the door in the first place. She wiped away the tears in her eyes and prayed it would be them, safe and sound.

When she opened the door she saw a man she had never met before. She could tell he was a healer by his uniform but, she didn't know why he was there.

"Hello Mrs. Weasley, I am a healer at St. Mungo's. I have some information regarding to your daughter, Rose Weasley."

Hermione's heart nearly stopped. Tears streamed down her face, again. "Is she… Is she…" Hermione tried but couldn't finish as sobs racked her body.

"Oh, Mrs. Weasley, she's fine! Don't you worry! We fixed her up and she is perfectly fine," the healer said and patted Hermione on the back.

Hermione's tears stopped falling. She automatically threw her arms around the healer. A big smile broke out across her face. She started giggling and her eyes lit up. "Please take me to her!" she begged.

"Of course," the healer said as they both went through the emerald flames into St. Mungo's lobby.

O.o.O

"Hermione Weasley is here, now. You should bring her downstairs into the lobby. She is free to go home if you think she's ready," A young healing assistant told Draco, who was still cradling Rose.

Draco sighed "Thank you for notifying me," he said with a weak smile. The assistant nodded and hurried out of the door.

"Rosie," he said, rubbing her back, trying to get her to wake up. She stirred slightly and, her eyes fluttered open. "Mummy is here, baby."

Rose smiled widely, "Yay! Mummy is here! I want to see her now!"

Draco lifted Rose off his lap and onto the floor so, he could stand up. He went to the door and opened it. He looked back at Rose, who sat on the ground with her tiny arms crossed glaring at him.

"What's the matter? Don't you want to see Mummy?"

"Yes but, you are supposed to carry me down there," she said smirking at him.

"Oh, um, ok…" he said and lifted her into his arms. "We are going to Apparate down to the lobby, ok? I want you to hold on to me very tight."

Draco heard the signature crack before he and Rose whooshed into the lobby.

O.o.O

Hermione waited patiently to see her little girl. She sat on one of the lobby chairs with her head in her hands. She was still worried about Rose, even though the healers said she would be ok. She only had been there for 15 minutes but, it seemed like an eternity went by. She longed to have her daughter in her arms. No one had told her what happened and, she wondered where Ron was at. She figured he was in the cafeteria; boy did that man love to eat. The only thing that mattered was that Rose was alive and made it through whatever happened to her. She vowed to take off work for at least two weeks (longer if she had to) to stay home and care for her daughter. Only the sweet cries of "Mummy! Mummy!" brought her back to reality.

Hermione looked up and saw Rose being put down on the ground. She paid no attention to the person who was holding her. All she thought about was the little whitish blonde haired girl running towards her, with her arms held out.

Hermione held out her arms and caught her in a hug. She twirled Rose around in a circle.

"Mummy, I missed you so so much!" Rose said and snuggled her mother, while still hugging Hermione tightly.

"Oh, baby, I missed you too! I've been so worried about you!" Hermione said. Tears pricked her eyes out of happiness. "I love you so much!"

"I love you too, Mummy!" Rose said smiling "And I love Draco Mouthboy, too."

"Who, baby?" Hermione asked. She had not heard the name of the person properly, thinking she was going to say "Daddy".

Rose slid out of her mother's arms and pointed to the man that was holding her. "Him," she said. "Draco Mouthboy."

Hermione stared at Draco in horror. He was taller than before and looked more handsome. His hair was a bit longer and shaggier but, it was still the same platinum blonde color. His eyes looked like the silver moonlight that you would be able to see on a cloudless night. He was wearing clothing that was probably more expensive than all the furniture in her house combined. What scared her most was that same signature smirk that was plastered on his face right then and there was identical to the one on Rose's face.

"Hello Granger," he said silkily (almost like Lucius). "Care to explain yourself?" he said glancing at Rose, his face still in that sinister smirk.


	6. This Isn't the End of It

**Ok, so I don't really care about getting criticizing comments (in fact a bit of criticism is good) but if you don't like Hermione/Draco being involved with each other and lots of Ron bashing a DRAMIONE story isn't for you. It upsets me that someone who doesn't even like the ship to comment, saying the story is "ridiculous". I know I'm not the best writer because I'm not quite as experienced as all you college and older people but there is no need for blatant rudeness. If you don't like something you should at least be civilized about it.**

O.o.O

Draco stared into Hermione's horror filled eyes. She looked as if she was a deer in headlights. He was quite amused at her reaction, which made him smirk bigger. Normally, she was the confident type of person who wouldn't care what he thought about Rose. It made him happy that she knew keeping her from him was wrong.

"Did you not hear me, Granger?" he asked. Hermione had been staring at him for several minutes. He was starting to get very impatient with her lack of communication.

Hermione let out a squeak. "I, I-I…"

Draco went and sat in one of the waiting room chairs, motioning her to sit down, too. She gingerly sat at the edge of the seat, clearly not wanting to be there.

"So… it's been a while," Draco said trying to take a different approach to getting her to answer him.

"What do you want me to say to you?" She glared and clutched Rose tighter in her arms, afraid to let her go. Rose fidgeted in her mother's arms unaware of the tension that filled the air between Draco and them.

"What do you want me to say? Oh, I don't know! Maybe, you could explain to me how my name was on Rose's birth certificate for one! Then, maybe, you could tell me how long you knew she was mine! And while you are at it, you could give me an extremely good reason to why you didn't tell me! Oh, and why the Weasel has been abusing a child that is rightfully and biologically my daughter!" Draco yelled and stamped his foot on the floor. He was fuming. It took every bit of his control not to destroy everything in front of him.

"I-I… I knew you wouldn't want her…" Tears flowed down Hermione's eyes. She was mad at Draco; she was mad at herself, and… what had he said about Ron?

"Mummy it's ok. Don't cry. Draco was only protecting me from Daddy. You see Daddy has been mean to me a lot. He drinks that bad juice, the one you tell him not to drink. He usually hits me when he drinks it but, he hurt me lots this time. He threw me into the walls. You should have seen all the blood! I'm lucky, Pinksy, my house elf saved me when she did. Oh, Mummy! Isn't it wonderful? Draco said Pinksy is all for me and, I don't even have to share her if I don't want to! I think I'll let you share her with me though, Mummy," Rose told her mother smiling happily. Luckily, she didn't understand what Draco had been saying but, she knew Mummy was upset about him seeing her.

"Ron- Daddy- hurt you? Is that why you're here?" Hermione looked utterly shocked. The whole "Draco" problem suddenly seemed not so important anymore.

"Yes. He hurt threw me against the wall and kicked me into it. The healers healed the deep cut on my head that was from him doing that to me," Rose said in a serious voice.

Suddenly the world was spinning. Hermione's vision became blurry. She could barely hear Rose's cries for her. She sank down to the floor in a messy heap. Everything started becoming farther and farther away as her shock was replaced by peaceful feelings. Her eyelids shut and she slowly drifted into the dark oblivion of dreams.

O.o.O

"_Mione? You haven't been talking to me! You have been avoiding me for two months! What's wrong? I swear, if you don't want to see each other any longer, I'll leave but, I need to hear it from your pretty face," Draco Malfoy called through the Gryffindor common room door._

_Hermione and Draco were in a secret relationship. They both knew it was wrong, especially Hermione. She was with Ron by day and with Draco any time no one was around. Draco didn't seem to care about Ron. Hermione and Ron weren't really as serious, as he and Hermione were. She was just afraid to break up with Ron because; she didn't want eight years of friendship to get washed down the toilet. Ron was extremely temperamental and, she was afraid he would do something to her if he found out that she had left him for Draco Malfoy, of all people._

_She didn't respond to his shouts. She was too busy hiding the fact that she was five months pregnant with a child, who she assumed he was the father to. (There was a slight possibility it was Ron's but, her spells never failed protecting anything.)The only one she told about the pregnancy was Harry, who promised not to say anything to a single soul, living or nonliving._

"_Ok, you leave me no choice. Golden Trio." He said. The door swung open, as he said the password._

_Hermione let out a bloodcurdling scream, "How do you know the password?!" She dove under a blanket sitting on one of the couches to hide her already bloating baby belly._

"_I Imperiused Neville," He said and smirked. Hermione's eyes widened. "Just kidding but, it wasn't hard to pry it out of him."_

"_Draco, I don't think this is going to work out. Harry already expects something is up (which was the truth but, she didn't know that. She told him the baby was Ron's and assumed he believed her). I just… I don't know. Your parents would never let us be together anyways. I mean I think it would be better to break up now than to wait until it's too late. It will save our hearts that way," Hermione said. But, really she was only saving herself from going through the heartbreaking moment when Draco would reject her baby, which would definitely happen if he found out._

"_If that's what you want. But, well… if you ever need someone you can come talk to me about your problems. I suppose I see your point though," _

_He stood there awkwardly for a few minutes. "I'll see you around, Granger," he said and exited the Gryffindor dorms, head hanging lower than normal._

If only she would have told him. Who knows what could have happened. It may have been different but, who knows.

O.o.O

"What happened to Mummy?" Rose asked Draco when they arrived at Malfoy Manor. Draco took the first opportunity he had to take Rose to his house. He wanted to show her the life of luxury he lived (and hoped to persuade her to live with him). Also, he wanted his parents would fall in love with her the second they saw her so, he wouldn't have to go through with them being furious at him.

"Don't worry, she is just sleeping. You can see her when she wakes up," Draco said.

Rose wasn't paying much attention to his answer, however. She was too busy ooing and ahhing at the size of the house and all the marvelous furniture in it. She made sure to touch everything soft or shiny before exploring other parts of the room.

Narcissa Malfoy walked in the room after hearing the crack of Apparation. She really wanted to see why the Healers needed Draco and what he was going to do about the child he fathered with Hermione Weasley. They were going to have a long discussion about it sometime, even if he wanted to be alone.

"Draco? Draco, I think we need to talk," she said. He didn't hear her though. Narcissa could see he was oblivious to everything except the little blonde girl he was staring so fondly at, watching her play with the little nick nacks on a table against one of the walls.

Tears sprung to her eyes as she heard little giggles coming from the young girl as she played with everything. She didn't even bother to tell her not to touch anything and, she temporarily forgot about asking Draco what he was going to decide to do about his daughter.

"Alright Rose, come on before you break something," Draco said when she knocked over a real crystal vase.

"No, it's alright. We can replace a silly vase," Narcissa said wiping the tears out of her eyes. Draco looked startled. He hadn't realized his mother was in the room. "You must be Rose. You can call me Gramma Cissa," she said.

"Ok!" Rose said and smiled. Narcissa had the same color hair as Draco. "Draco is that your Mummy?" she asked.

"Yes," Draco smiled, happy that his mother had taken an instant liking to his daughter.

Rose smiled and ran over to Narcissa. She flung her arms around her legs. "I love you Gramma Cissa 'cause I love Draco and you are his Mummy." Rose let go of Narcissa and smiled at the pair of Malfoys, staring down at her.

"Would you like me to get you some toys? I don't have a lot but, the stuff I do have will be fine for now. I think my Mummy wants to talk to me about big people stuff," Draco said and waved his wand and _Accioed _some toys from the attic for her to play with.

"Oh! You are a wizard, too! Mummy doesn't like when people use magic in the house. But, I like it!" Rose smiled in delight and then she ran over to play with all the stuff Draco brought in for her. She sat down and searched through all of the toys until she found something she wanted to play with.

Tears fell down from Narcissa's eyes again, as she watched Rose playing with a brown teddy bear, her father's first teddy bear that he got when he was born. "Oh, Draco she's so beautiful. I have never seen anything so perfect in all my life!"

"Yes, I know. It's, well, it's crazy. I still don't believe she's mine although; it's not very hard to tell she looks like a Malfoy. Unfortunately, I only have her for a little bit so, she can't stay long. Hermione doesn't even know she is here at the Manor."

"Draco!" Narcissa scolded.

"She passed out. It's sort of a long story. Hermione… well she didn't take the… news to well about Ron abusing Rose. I had to seize the opportunity to get a chance to know my daughter. Err... well I suppose you don't know what I'm talking about,"

"Draco, you underestimate Pinksy way too much. She told Lucius and me what happened and where she went," Narcissa smirked at her son.

"I suppose I do owe her… a lot. I guess I have to start being more tolerant of her want to help her young Mistress Rose," Draco said and chuckled at his last comment. He expected Pinksy to dedicate her life to being Rose's servant and protector.

Rose continued to play happily on the floor. Narcissa and Draco sat on the couch watching her play and listening to what the toys had to say to each other. She looked content. He never wanted her to leave but, Hermione would probably take him to court for abducting their daughter. _Their _daughter. That was very foreign thing to say; it was true none the less if Hermione chose to admit it or not. He wondered how long they had watched her play. He looked at the large grandfather clock on the wall and sighed. He should take her back to the hospital where her mother was at. Even though it had only been an hour since he brought her to the Manor, he didn't know if Hermione was up or not. If she was that would be a big problem.

"Come on Rose. Time to go see Mummy, now," Draco said gently.

Rose pouted and folded her arms. "Oh, Draco, I was having so much fun. Being here is a lot better than going home! Mummy can wait! Only for a few more minutes please?"

"No, Rose. We are going to the hospital and you are going to give Mummy this when she wakes up ok?!" Draco said and handed her a note to give to Hermione. "I will give you a present the next time I see you if you do this," He knew for a fact that she had the Malfoy tastes and the what's in it for me attitude.

"Draco, we should go to Diagon Alley and get her a present right now. She needs some proper clothes on," Narcissa said looking at Rose in only a pajama shirt and a pair of underwear.

"Rose do you want to go shopping? You can pick out anything you want." Draco said wanting to spoil his baby girl right away. Who really cared if Hermione was up or not? Rose was still his daughter.

Rose nodded vigorously, "Appawate time?"

"Mmm, hmm, princess," Draco said and scooped her into his arms.

"I love you," Rose said and snuggled into his chest. The familiar crack of apparition sounded before he could respond.

O.o.O

"Oh, goodie! Mummy you're awake!" Rose said and jumped onto the hospital bed the second she woke up.

Hermione looked at Rose. She was wearing an expensive silver silk dress that matched her eyes. There were whitish diamond looking sequins all over it (or at least she hoped they were fake) and an emerald green sash that was encrusted with green sequins (although she had a suspicion they were really emeralds and the white ones really were diamonds). Her headband and shoes matched the sash (oh Merlin if those were real gems she thought she would pass out again).

"Where did you get those?" Hermione asked already knowing what she was going to say.

"Me and Draco and Gramma Cissa went shopping," Rose said. "They let me pick out the dress. Well, except Draco said I looked good in green and silver, not red and gold one. I thought I looked pretty in both of them,"

Typical Draco buying the most expensive Slytherin colored dress he could find. Hermione wondered when his mother came into the picture and how she reacted to Rose. Narcissa probably wasn't happy but, just tolerated Rose because she was family like Draco did. They both probably had a heart attack because of what the young Malfoy was wearing and thought they at least had to buy her a dress to make up for four years of not helping with anything.

"He told me to give you this, too, Mummy," Rose smiled and handed her the note Draco had told her to give to Hermione. Hermione set it on her lap not going to bother reading it. Only Rose's incessant "read it Mummy, now" made Hermione look at what was written on the paper.

_Granger,_

_Just so you know Ron is in Azkaban, currently awaiting his trial which has yet to be decided on a date to take place on. Also, this matter isn't over. I will expect answers when I see you again. Don't bother to reply on anything about this, it's not worth it._

_Draco Malfoy_

Hermione's tear blotched the ink written words. How dare he tell her his daughter was not worth talking about in a letter. She reached into her bag and pulled out a bunch of papers and summoned one of the healer's owls. Hermione deposited a few bronze Knuts into the owl's leather pouch, on its leg.

"Give this to Draco Malfoy at Malfoy Manor," Hermione told the owl as it started flying away.

O.o.O

Draco took the papers from the strange black owl he had never seen before. He read them carefully and gasped.

Hermione had given him the papers to sign away his rights to Rose.


	7. Everything I've Missed

Draco stared at the papers for what seemed like the longest time. He wasn't staring at them because he didn't know if he should sign or not. He just wanted to know why Hermione was trying to keep Rose away from him now that he knew about her. He had already made his decision that there was no way in hell he would sign the stupid papers.

Once, he deemed them not worthy to sit on his desk any longer he ripped them up and threw the pieces in an envelope. He summoned his eagle owl to give the envelope to Hermione.

There was a knock on the door and his father stepped in without waiting for a reply. Draco was in no mood to talk to his father, nor anyone else. The last few days had shaken him up quite a bit and he stared at his computer trying to get his father to leave the room.

"Draco, I want you to know that I will support you no matter what you decide. (Obviously, his parents were spying on him somehow. He never told them about the papers.) Also, I suppose our deal still stands. You don't have to marry Astoria if you decide you want to be Rose's father since; you have given us a Malfoy heir, even though she isn't a Pureblood. Your mother supports your decision, too, even though she told me that would be making the biggest mistake of your life if you decided you wanted to give up your rights to Rose."

Draco didn't answer but, he nodded. Lucius left the room to give his son some much needed time to think. Draco was glad that his father understood he needed some time alone but, he only wanted to be away from his parents. He wished he could be with his daughter, if only for a few minutes. He thought of her every second of every minute since, he brought her back to the hospital to see her mother the previous day. Why was the world so cruel to him? He did nothing to deserve what Hermione had kept from him those past four years. He imagined what could have been; the three of them together at the Manor, Rose giggling and smiling as he taught her how to ride a broomstick. Tucking her in at night and reading her a bedtime story while Hermione watched and smiled. The three of them holding hands as they went on vacation for the first time together on the beach. He never even got to hold her right after she was born. He thought about what her first words were and when she had taken her first steps; the first time she smiled and the first time she threw her first temper tantrum. All the things a first time parent should remember forever he had never seen before. He didn't know what her favorite color was or what she liked to eat. The only way he found out when her birthday was by rereading that _Daily Prophet_ article on her. Unfortunately he had missed it. He didn't know what she would want or what she was interested in, anyways. He only knew she liked sparkly expensive things which could work out to his advantage. Hermione was one of those dull cheap kinds of people who probably never gave anything worth getting someone.

Draco suddenly had an idea. One of his best friends, Blaise Zabini, worked as an Auror in Hermione's office. He flooed the office and waited patiently until Blaise came to answer the fireplace.

"Draco, long time, no see my friend," Blaise said and chuckled. He looked the same as ever. He had perfectly tan skin and twinkling dark brown eyes. His black hair was shaggy and quite a bit longer than it was in Hogwarts. His bangs fell over one of his eyes and, he slowly pushed them to the side. "Sorry it took so long for me to answer. The boss doesn't like us answering personal floos but, I figured you needed something important since, you didn't floo the department first."

"Yeah, I need you to do a huge favor for me. I need you to go through Hermione Weasley's files and give me the times she is at work and her address. It's important." Draco said.

"Normally, I would say no because, it could endanger my job but, I suppose I could pull a few strings for you. Why would you possibly need Hermione's address though?" Blaise responded.

"It's- It's just important, she has to tell me a few things and I need to tell her some things as well," Draco said and raked his pale hand through his whitish blonde hair.

"Ok, well whatever," Blaise opened a drawer that contained files for all the staff in their department. He went to the W's and pulled out Weasley, Hermione's folder. "Here ya go mate," Blaise said and pointed to her address. "Oh and just so you know she took the next few weeks off of work, something happened to her daughter I guess."

Draco's fists clenched and Blaise looked at him curiously. "Thanks a bunch Blaise," Draco said and went back to the Manor so, Blaise would not have to ask him any uncomfortable questions.

"Mother!" Draco called down the hallway as he ran down the white marble stairs. "Mother, I'm going to Diagon Alley to buy a few things. Do you want to come?!"

Narcissa Malfoy enthusiastically joined him, not wanting to pass up a good shopping trip and spending some quality time with her son.

"Well let's go then," Draco whined. Even after all those years he was still a stubborn baby who could never be content waiting a few minutes to get what he wanted. He wanted to go right then and there. Narcissa just nodded and they both Apparated at some time.

O.o.O

Hermione had been home from the hospital for a day and a half and, finally got Rose out of her dress and into her night gown. Rose would not take the dumb dress off. Hermione couldn't understand why. There wasn't anything extremely special about it. Yes it was pretty but, Rose never threw a fit over wearing a dress. She had asked Rose multiple times why she wouldn't take off the dress. She never gave her a straight answer though. Eventually, Hermione had to bribe her daughter that she would make chocolate chip pancakes in the morning if she would put on her pajamas. At once Rose agreed. Hermione helped her untie the bow in the bag and put on her pink night gown.

Rose demanded that they should watch _Sleeping Beauty_ before she went to bed. Hermione put the disc in the DVD player and put some popcorn in the microwave. She liked making popcorn the Muggle way, she thought it tasted better. She put some in a little bowl for Rose and put the rest in a bowl for herself. The second she sat on the couch there was the knocking sound of an owl's beak on the window. Hermione sighed and got off the couch. She walked over to the window and opened in slowly. The second it was up all the way the owl threw the letter into the house and sped away. Hermione didn't even get a chance to see the owl properly.

Hermione went back to the couch and looked at the clock. It was only 7:30, so much for Rose falling asleep half way through the movie. She absentmindedly opened the envelope seal and shook it upside down so the letter would fall in her hand. She wasn't expecting ripped pieces of paper to scatter all over her lap and onto the floor. _Reparo_ she muttered quietly so Rose would not see her use magic. The pieces started piecing themselves back together. Once it was put back together, she picked the papers off the floor. Hermione gasped. It was the documents for Draco to sign over his rights to Rose.

Not only had they been ripped up, they also weren't signed.

O.o.O

Draco arrived at Hermione's door step at approximately 10:00 p.m. (give or take a few minutes). Instead of Apparating or flooing he decided to use the door bell.

Hermione heard the bell ring right as she was putting Rose to bed. "I'll just be a minute, baby," Hermione said and walked out of her bedroom door. Unfortunately, Hermione's effort was wasted because, Rose decided to tag along with her to see who was at the door.

When Hermione opened the door she was going to close it again but Rose yelled "Draco!" and ran outside. "Rose get in the house this instant!" Hermione yelled at her daughter.

Rose stepped into the house closely followed by Draco. Draco stayed close to Rose so, Hermione wouldn't have the opportunity to slam the door in his face or push him out of the house. He put the bags, which were in his hands, on the floor.

"Get out Malfoy," Hermione said as soon as she turned around.

"Look, Hermione-" Draco said but was cut off by her.

"Don't you Hermione me. I said get out!" She had no intention with dealing with him so soon. The day had been traumatic enough without adding him.

"Not until we talk," Draco said firmly. He was not going to put of the conversation about Rose any longer. "You owe me an explanation, at the least. How long did you know she was mine?" he said calmly.

"The second I saw her open her eyes for the first time…" Hermione mumbled.

"Why did you wait four years to tell me then?!" Draco shouted.

"I… I wanted to but, you would have never accepted her. And Ron-"

"Has almost gotten her killed, Hermione!" Draco finished for her.

Hermione remained silent, willing herself not to cry. She couldn't succumb to Draco's accusations, even if they were 100% true.

"Do you know how much I've missed already in Rose's life? I never got to see her being born, I never got to hold her as a baby, I never got to feed or change her, I don't know when she first learned to crawl and walk. I have never heard her first words, I haven't gotten to see her blow out her candles at her birthday parties, I haven't read her a bedtime story or given her a bath. I don't know what her favorite color, food, movie, book, or activity is. I don't know if she is a morning or a night person, and I sure as hell don't know why she has been abused," Draco vented.

Tears spilled down Hermione's cheeks. Rose sat on the floor trying to peak into the bags Draco had brought, oblivious to everything else.

"You can open them, Rose. They are all for you," Draco said ignoring Hermione. If anyone should be crying it should have been him.

Rose squealed in delight and opened the first one in front of her. She pulled out a long sapphire colored broomstick. It was the Lightning Strike Firebolt III that wasn't supposed to come out for another couple of years in Britain.

"Mummy, I've got my own broomstick!" Rose said as Hermione stared in horror at such a costly gift. Rose went opened a few more bags that were all filled with clothes and their matching shoes and accessories. Each tag said 100% real gems and the material was either silk, cashmere, or Egyptian cotton. Hermione looked as if she was about to faint.

Another bag held a real gold bird cage with a baby snowy owl in it. Rose fell in love with her at once and named her Blizzard. By this time there were still a few more bags and Hermione was extremely dizzy. The next bag was small and only had a little box in it. Rose opened the box and she saw a lovely pair of diamond earrings shaped like roses in it. She put them in her ears at once.

A few bags later she had a laptop, an iPhone 5, more clothes, more jewelry than she could count, her own unicorn (that was kept in a special forest where tame unicorns were kept), a few horses (that were in the Malfoy Manor stables), a few riding outfits, a bunch of stuffed animals and dolls, and a check that was signed by Draco Malfoy but didn't have an amount on it.

Draco gave Rose a pen. "Write any number on the line here," Draco said and pointed to the place where he should have written the cash amount,"

Rose took the pen and started writing numbers on the line he told her too. When she was finished she handed the pen back to Draco and showed him the check. She had written $ 7,829,902,982.

Draco looked at the number "That's it? Only a bit less than 8 billion Galleons? Too, bad there isn't enough room to add any more numbers," Draco said and frowned.

"Draco Malfoy you are not giving Rose that much money! I also want you to take back all this stuff!" Hermione yelled. She had no way of ever paying him back and she couldn't stand the way he could throw away money for no reason.

"I'm not going to take anything back," Draco said and smirked.

"Rose, please go to bed honey, I have to speak with Mr. Malfoy alone," Hermione said. Rose trudged up the stairs but, stopped and sat on the top step to see what Draco Mouthboy and her Mummy were going to talk about.

"Take all of this back and sign the papers!" Hermione shouted at Draco. She held up the documents that he sent back to her.

"I'm not going to take anything back, Hermione! I've missed all her birthdays, Christmases, Easters, everything! And there is no way in hell you are going to get me to sign away my rights to my daughter!" Draco screamed back at her.

"You have no rights to her already! Why can't you just make it official?!" Hermione started to cry.

"That's for a judge to decide, not you!" Draco yelled challenging Hermione.

"You wouldn't dare to take me to court!"

"Would I Granger?" Draco said calmly and smirked at her.

"_Stupefy_!" Hermione shouted at Draco. He dodged the spell before it hit him. She kept firing spells and curses at him. He put up a shield and, it deflected the spells easily.

"Hermione stop! No spell will stop me from being Rose's biological father!" Draco yelled at Hermione who had a crazed look in her eyes.

O.o.O

Rose cried silently the second they started yelling at each other and her Mummy had started crying. They were fighting about her, she could tell. Then, her Mummy had started using magic to hurt Draco and she cried harder. They still didn't hear her though. Draco told her Mummy to stop because he was her father. That was strange. Didn't father mean Daddy? Draco wasn't her Daddy even though she liked him better than Ron.

Rose saw her mother punch Draco in the nose. Blood flew onto the floor. She started screaming and ran down the stairs to help him.

O.o.O

"Draco! Oh Merlin, I'm so sorry!" Hermione screamed. He muttered a healing spell and his nose healed. Rose was clutching onto his leg still crying. Hermione felt terrible.

"This isn't the end of me yet, Hermione!" Draco said giving Rose a quick hug before Apparating back to Malfoy Manor.


	8. Realization

Early the next morning, Hermione called Ginny to see if it would be alright if they watched Rose at their house for the day. She needed some time to think and Rose was not very happy that she hurt "her Draco Mouthboy" the previous night.

Hermione called the Potter's house and was afraid they wouldn't answer because their house phone was fairly new and they might not have known how to use it yet. Finally Ginny answered. Hermione told her she needed to finish an extremely important report for work and Ron was at a friend's house (none of the Weasley/Potters were informed about Ron's current situation). She needed someone to watch Rose. Ginny said they would be delighted to watch Rose for the day. The children would be happy to see her (which was a complete lie) and Molly and Arthur were coming to their house for dinner. It would be a perfect way for them to see their other grandchild. Hermione was relieved that she didn't ask too many questions as to why she wasn't at work and why Ron couldn't come home.

Hermione packed Rose a bag that was filled with drawing utensils, books, and other things to keep her occupied. The boys usually left her alone if she was doing something boring, like drawing or reading. Rose nearly started crying when she saw the bag and her mother told her she was going to Auntie Ginny and Uncle Harry's house. Hermione had to, practically, drag her into the car.

The car ride felt like it took forever as they went down the winding roads.

"We're here," Hermione said as she pulled into the Potter's long drive way that led up to their eight bedroom house with three floors and a basement. She had been jealous of their house ever since they bought it and all Ron and her could afford was a lousy three bedroom house that didn't even have a basement.

Rose reluctantly got out of the car and stomped into the house. As Hermione was about to walk in behind her young daughter Rose turned around and glared at her, "I hate you Mummy. Don't come in,"

Hermione was completely heartbroken. She never meant to hurt Rose in any way. She was only trying to protect her. She had never thought Rose would be watching when she hit Draco, which was unfortunately, who she said was her best friend. Why weren't things working out for her? Draco was never supposed to be in Rose's life and she wasn't supposed to be in his. Also, for some odd reason Draco wasn't going to let Rose go. He seemed to genuinely care for her, which only made the whole situation worse. She had thought that maybe if Ron got treatment they could be a family again but, there was no way that could ever happen if Draco Malfoy was in the picture. As far as she knew no one, not even Ron, knew about Rose's parentage, except for herself and the Malfoys. Draco would flaunt about being Rose's father the second he saw Ron. That would be the ruination of Ron and hers relationship.

Tears came out of Hermione's eyes as she got back in the car. She would make it up to Rose somehow but, first she had to make amends with someone else.

O.o.O

Rose walked into the house cautiously. She was afraid one of the boys might jump out and scare her or do something worse.

"Rose dear is that you?" Ginny called. "I'm in the family room with Lily, sweetie."

Rose practically ran to the sound of Ginny's voice.

"I'm here Auntie Ginny," Rose said quietly. She set her sketch book and colors on the mahogany coffee table then plopped onto the floor. She started to draw something and bit her lip as she was lost in concentration.

Drawing was a solace to Rose. It brought comfort to her when she felt scared and out of place. Everyone said she was good at it (which she definitely was) and wanted her to draw more. She didn't mind that it took a long time to get everything perfect. In fact, it was better that way. It was an escape from her mean cousins, who left her alone when she drew. It even made Daddy ignore her when he was in one of those scary moods. Mummy had said it was a talent she had gotten from her Daddy because, Ron liked to doodle little things all over everything too. But, Rose always wondered about this. Her Daddy drew a bird one day and she thought it was a weird rat type thing. When asked him if it was a rat he said, "Anyone can see this is a bird, Rosie! Maybe we need to get her eyesight checked, Mione." Was he, once, good at drawing? Of course, she put it off in her mind. It was not very important.

Rose looked up as she felt eyes on her. Ginny was staring at her thoughtfully. She wished she had Rose's uncanny ability to draw extremely life like. It always amazed her. She could spend all day studying her drawings.

"Show me when you are done, Rosie Doodle," Ginny said using the nickname that all of the Weasley/Potters used for her. She snuggled Lily on the couch and flipped through the T.V. channels.

Rose nodded and her platinum curls bounced on her shoulders. She smiled. She liked that someone was actually interested in what she drew. Mummy always glanced at it quickly and never said anything about the pictures. Her Gramma Weasley seemed somewhat interested sometimes but, only once in a while. Other than that no one ever cared what she was doing.

O.o.O

Draco sat on his bed staring at the letter in his lap that was addressed for him from none other than the person who hated him more than anything for something she did. It was not like Hermione to apologize for anything. For all he knew opening the letter would unleash an ancient curse and kill him and his family.

Unfortunately, Draco was a very impatient, nosy person. Soon he began to get antsy with it, wanting to know what it contained. He chastised himself thinking, _don't open it Draco. You are better than that. You are only falling into her twisted web if you open _it.

A few minutes later, he could not control himself and ripped the envelope right off the letter.

So far, he was not dead so, he began to read:

_Draco,_

_I really don't know what to write. I truly am sorry for hitting you but, that's not what I'm writing to you about. I suppose I should start at the beginning. Rose was born on April 1__st__ at 8:28 a.m., weighing 6 pounds and 8 ounces. I didn't know what to name her and my favorite flower popped into my head. She was happy baby that learned quickly. She was talking and laughing by 9 months; she learned to walk not much later. Her first word was Mummy but, if you don't count that as a word it was sparkly. She is more of a stay up all night and sleep all day kind of girl. Her favorite color changes so often I don't even know what it is. She loves them all I suppose. Her favorite food is chocolate chip pancakes, she begs for them at every meal time. She likes to read, play with her toys, and draw. She can draw so realistic, it's like she has been doing it for thousands of years. I suppose she gets that from you. She is truly something. I'm sorry I kept her from you but, that was what I thought was right at the time; I still do now but, obviously you know. I honestly didn't know Ron was hurting her but, hopefully they will send him to a therapist and he gets better. I don't want anyone else to know and, I don't want you around for the sake of Rose. If you want you can see her once in a while I guess cannot object but, Ron is her father now. I want it to stay that way._

_Hermione Weasley_

Draco laid face down on his bed as silent sobs racked his body. He cried about missing everything in his daughter's life, he cried about how Hermione didn't want him in her life, and he cried about the way Hermione thought Ron, _abusive_ Ron, would be a better father than him if he got treatment. Hopefully Ron would get a lifetime sentence in Azkaban, which might let him be more apart of Rose's life.

Draco was so self-absorbed in his own sorrows, he didn't notice the pretty raven haired girl come into his room until she started stroking his whitish blonde head.

"Get a grip, Draco. We are supposed to go out tonight," the girl said in an unsympathetic voice.

Draco sat up and wiped away his tears, "Astoria," he said icily.

"I can't have you looking like crap for our date. I've made reservations at the finest restaurant in England! Before that we need to go shopping for some appropriate garments. The usual designer dress just won't do if you know what I mean," she said playfully but Draco knew she wasn't kidding around.

"Oh, Astoria, I know exactly what you mean. You want me to buy you _another_ outfit, when you have so many lovely things already and now I'm done with this," Draco snapped.

"Seriously Draco? You are not going to buy me another dress? Stop being such a baby, it's not going to kill you or make you poor," Astoria pouted running her hands along Draco's soft comforter.

"No, I'm done, with _you_!" Draco said.

"You're done with me?! No! No one breaks up with me!" Astoria shouted, her aquamarine eyes, turning into a dark navy color, filled with hatred.

"We're through, Astoria," Draco said calmly with no emotion.

"Fine, but you'll regret this one day," Astoria said. She stomped out of his room. Before she left, she slammed the door so hard it shook the walls.

_Not likely_, Draco thought. At least she was one less burden weighing down on his shoulders.

O.o.O

"I'm home, Gin, boys!" Harry called from the front door. It had been a long day at work and he was excited to get home and help prepare dinner for Molly and Arthur. He kicked off his shoes and hung up his uniform robes in the downstairs closet.

"Dad! Dad!" James and Albus called from upstairs. They rushed to greet them. He gave them each a bear hug and ruffled their untidy black hair. The boys giggled and their faces were lit up with happiness.

Rose walked into the hall, followed by Ginny. When she saw Harry showing affection toward the boys she immediately got jealous. Ron never hugged her really tight and ruffled her hair. The only man who ever seemed to care about her was Draco Malfoy and, Mummy had hurt him. She probably was not going to see him for a while- maybe longer.

"Oh, hey Rosie Doodle," Harry said as soon as he saw her. They boys immediately gave her loathing looks. They had not noticed she had been there since they were playing wizard chess all day in James' room; Albus was too young and didn't have the intellect to know how to play so, it took him forever to move a piece. The boys were mad that their "enemy," as Victoire called her, was taking all the attention from their father.

Rose mumbled a hello. She was uncomfortable around the boys, who were glaring at her. Soon they eventually went back upstairs to finish their game, deeming it was much more important than dealing with her. After all, she could fight back and, usually they were the ones who got hurt. She waited a few seconds to make sure they were going to stay upstairs. When they stayed in their room, she went back over in the family room and continued drawing.

"Is Mione here?" Harry asked.

"No, she had a report she had to do for work," Ginny said absentmindedly while she patted Lily's red tufts of hair.

"Work? That's odd. She hasn't been in the office for at least a week. No one knows why, it's just that she's taken a quite a bit of time off for family matters. Rumors are going around that Ron is being held in the Ministry of Magic jail until he gets tried for abusing a child. I personally think that it is rubbish. Ron would never do something like that," Harry said. Things weren't adding up.

"That's crazy, Harry. Mione said Ron was at a friend's house. She is probably stressed and needs to work at home for a bit and spend some time with her family; thus, the family matters part," Ginny said. Lily started fussing and she rocked her and patted her back.

"How many other friends does Ron actually have, Gin?" Harry asked. He was starting to get worried.

"I don't know- look Harry you said so yourself. Ron would never hurt a child. I don't run my brother's life. I'm sure he's made plenty of friends that we don't know about. As for Hermione, she's just got so many things to deal with already," Ginny said.

"You don't understand, Gin. We don't know the real reason Hermione took so much time off of work. Why would rumors about Ron beating-" Harry stopped talking as Rose walked into the room.

"Auntie Ginny, I am done drawing. You can see my pictures now," Rose said excitedly. She handed Ginny the first drawing in her tiny pale hands.

The drawing was of Rose. It was extremely detailed down to the last eyelash. Ginny could tell the background was of her house, but something was odd. She nearly missed it. In the picture, Rose was wearing a necklace. It wasn't just any necklace, she could tell it was real gold encrusted with diamonds. But, the weird thing was it was shaped like an M. It was a swirly, fancy M, almost like a crest of some sort. Rose's name was Rose Elizabeth Weasley. There were no M's in her name.

"Here, look at the other one!" Rose squealed breaking Ginny's train of thought. She handed the drawing to Harry and took the other one out of Rose's hands.

The other drawing was a picture from the Weasley house as well. But this time it showed Ron with a knife in his hands. Rose was crumpled up near a red stained wall; blood stained her pajamas and ran down her head. Ginny's heart nearly stopped.

"What does M mean, Rose?" Harry said confused.

Rose took the necklace out from her shirt and played with the M. "I think Draco said it stood for Malfoy. I don't know what that means though but, it's pretty," Rose said.

The look of horror passed through both Ginny and Harry's faces as realization set in. Ginny showed Harry the drawing of Ron abusing Rose. Harry nearly fainted as the floo rang.

"Rosie, I want you to put these drawings away in your bag. Do not show them to Gramma and Grandpa Weasley," Harry said gravely. Rose ran into the living room and put them in her folder.

"At least we know the truth," Ginny said to Harry as a single tear fell down her face.

**I am so sorry I haven't updated in so long. I've just been so busy with homework and stuff. Please review! It means the world to me. I really want 100 reviews ****! Also I try to update every week but no promises. Just if you were wondering about the whole "Mouthboy" thing, when I was younger I seriously thought Draco's name was Mouthboy. In reality Harry was calling him Malfoy. I'm seriously not joking.**


	9. James Reveals the Secret

Dinner with the Weasleys was anything but pleasant that night.

"Molly, Arthur, how wonderful it is to see you," Harry said with fake enthusiasm as he let the two elder Weasleys through the fire place. Molly pulled him into a hug, which he barely returned. Arthur was carrying a large tray of dessert and went to set it on the kitchen counter.

"Harry is something bothering you? You look distraught," Molly said her voice full of concern. "You and Ginny aren't having problems are you?"

"No, no, of course not! I'm fine," Harry said. Mrs. Weasley did not look convinced. "Really, Molly, I am perfectly fine."

"Well if you're sure dear," she said as the boys ran down the stairs, followed by Rose and a very sad looking Ginny.

"Gramma Weasley!" the boys cried and ran over to her.

"My boys!" she cried happily pulling them into tight hugs. Rose stood there awkwardly but, she didn't care if Gramma Weasley liked the boys better than her. She had Gramma Cissa, who was much better than Gramma Weasley could ever be. Gramma Weasley never gave her any good presents.

"Don't I get some love?" Arthur said coming out of the kitchen. The boys grinned then ran over to him, "Look at the new trucks we got Grandpa! It's a Muggle one." They happily showed him the little plastic trucks they got and led him into the family room where more of them were. Rose smirked and rolled her eyes; how could a piece of plastic on wheels be any fun?

"Oh, Rose, what a pleasant surprise," Molly said when she noticed Rose standing off to the side. "You didn't tell me Ron and Hermione would be over. I would have made more treacle tart and a few more mince meat pies!"

"It's just Rose here," Ginny said stiffly, willing herself not to cry. She wondered if her parents knew about the whole situation with Ron. Surely, they wouldn't because, Hermione would have told her best friends first. If she couldn't tell Harry and herself she sure as heck wouldn't be able to tell the Weasleys.

"Gin?" Molly said. She was beginning to think something was up. First, Harry acting upset and now Ginny, too?

"I should go set the table," Ginny said, not wanting to talk to her mother, and walked off into the kitchen to get silverware and plates from the kitchen cabinet.

"Rose, go play with the boys for a minute. I need to talk to Uncle Harry, alone," Mrs. Weasley said to Rose who scooted closer to Harry when Ginny left.

Rose, reluctantly, went into the family room where the boys were playing with their trucks and Grandpa was sitting, watching Quidditch on the T.V. She sat down on the plush brown carpet and watched her cousins play. It wasn't terribly exciting; there was no point in rolling those dumb little things around. Nonetheless she watched for a bit then, stared off into space. She didn't realize the boys were watching her and she almost jumped when James spoke to her.

"If you want, you can play with the pink one. It's Lily's truck but, I'm sure she wouldn't mind,"

"Umm…" Rose said. James had never been nice to her before. She grabbed the pink one hesitantly, in case this was some sort of joke. "Er… what am I 'posed to do with it?"

James shrugged, "Roll it around. That's what everyone else does." Albus glared and walked out of the room thinking James was a traitor towards Victoire. They weren't supposed to be playing with Rose. Grandpa Weasley left too. The match was over and he wanted to help with dinner.

"Oh," Rose said smirking. "This isn't a lotta fun." After a few minutes of rolling around the truck Rose got bored.

"I think it is," James said and smiled at her.

"You are being nice to me," Rose stated. "You are never nice to me."

"Well… I only was mean to you because Teddy and Victoire told me to. I'm sorry," James said. He really did feel bad for treating her in an uncivil manner.

"Err… It's… well, I forgive you I suppose," Rose said and smiled.

"Good! Best friends forever?" James said. He smiled goofily and his bright blue eyes twinkled. He hoped she would say yes there was just something about her that he liked. He didn't know what it was but, every time he was mean to Rose his heart hurt and, he felt undeniable guilt. Rose started chewing on her lip and looked deep in thought. Her stormy eyes revealed nothing. It was several minutes later, when she spoke.

"James, I dunno. Do you really like me? 'Cause if this is a joke, I don't like it."

"I'm not joking. You look lonely all the time. You need a best friend. I can be… I can be your older brother too, if you want." James made a puppy dog face.

"Erm… Ok…" Rose said hesitantly.

"Good!" James cried and started tickling Rose.

"Stop… that tickles… really…" She said in between giggles. She tried to push him away but it was no use. He was a lot bigger than her and a few inches taller.

Finally, Harry called, "Kids it is dinner time." James stopped tickling her and ran into the dining room. Rose, slowly, followed him.

O.o.O

"Gin, will you pass the potatoes?" Harry said motioning Ginny to slide the potato bowl over to him.

His wife had not said a thing the whole time they had been eating. Ginny's eyes were fixated on her plate, unblinking. She needed some time to process everything and her parents would not leave fast enough. She had to force herself to eat, bringing the fork into her mouth and chewing slowly. She could feel her mother's eyes willing her to pay attention. Ginny purposely ignored her. She had already questioned Harry if there was something wrong with their marriage, when she left to go prepare dinner. All she needed was Molly firing more uncomfortable questions at her. Things just always had to be complicated for her. She had to be strong and stick it out, like always. It seemed as if everyone else's mistakes somehow crashed down on her, and she was usually the one who got hurt the most. Much to Ginny's disgust Harry was taking it rather well. Yes, he looked a bit uncomfortable when her parents talked to him but, he was not completely breaking down on the inside.

"Ginny, the potatoes are in front of you. Can you pass them over?" Harry said a little bit louder. It broke her concentration and, she carelessly passed the bowl over. It nearly tipped before Harry reached out and grabbed the bowl.

"I… I don't feel too good," Ginny said as she stood up. She walked quickly to the stairwell and ran up them. Tears pricked in her eyes as she slammed the bedroom door.

"I'll go see what is troubling her," Harry said and excused himself from the dinner table. Molly and Arthur had looks of worry on their faces, something was not right today. James, Albus, and Rose were wearing looks of confusion. Lily was sitting happily in her high chair oblivious to everything that was going on.

Harry went up to their bedroom and knocked on the wooden door. He heard Ginny crying. "Gin?" he said and slowly went into their bedroom.

Ginny was sprawled across the bed her hair was disheveled and her face was red and blotchy.

"Gin… I, we…" Harry trailed off not knowing what to say. She was crying about how Draco Malfoy was most likely Rose's real father.

"It's fine, Harry," Ginny said to him and tried to wipe away the tears on her face (it was no use, however, tears were still ever falling from her face). "Maybe we are just jumping to conclusions. Mione would never do something like that. Right?"

Ginny stared at Harry expectantly. Maybe she was just jumping to conclusions. Gray eyes and blonde hair were common Muggle genes. It could just be a weird coincidence. Harry would surely think that, too. Harry honestly did not know what to say. Ginny's eyes were suddenly so full of hope and, he did not want to crush her spirits. The Hermione he thought he knew would never, in a million years, cheat on Ron for Draco Malfoy (of all people). Now he wasn't so sure.

"I… I don't know Ginny. I would have hoped not but, well, the signs are pointing in that direction…"

The hope died in her eyes and fell down her face as salty tears. Harry went to Ginny and held her close. He patted her back and let her cry on his shoulder.

"How could she do this?! I don't know what to believe anymore! Hermione… Who would have thought?!" Ginny sobbed.

"Gin it's ok-"

"No, Harry, it is not ok! If it was ok I wouldn't be crying! If it was ok we would be accepting! If it was ok, Mione, wouldn't have EVER thought of doing something so foolish! She hurt Ron, Harry! And maybe, just maybe, she told him the truth and that is why he hurt Rose! She hurt me too and, all you can say is it's ok? No, Harry, it will never be ok; not unless by some miraculous chance Rose is Ron's biological daughter," Ginny cut Harry off. He stared at her not knowing how to respond.

"Go tell my parents to leave because, I have… dragon pox or something." She said and walked into the bathroom attached to their room.

Harry went down the stairs and went back to the dining room.

"Harry, I think Arthur and I will be leaving now. I think Ginny needs some time to cool down and rest," Molly said as she cleared the tabled with a flick of her wand. "Why don't we get together again in a few days?"

"Yeah, sure. That would be better. Ginny's just not acting like herself today," Harry said and escorted them to the fire place.

Molly grabbed some floo powder and threw it into the fire place. The peaceful red flames erupted into fiery emerald green tendrils. "Thank you for the nice dinner, Harry. To The Burrow!" Molly shouted. Arthur and her stepped through the emerald fire and disappeared.

O.o.O

Harry put a movie in for the kids on the family room television set to keep them quiet. He ended up watching half of it then fell asleep on the couch.

"Daddy the movie's over," Albus said and jumped on him.

Harry woke up startled. He looked at the clock, it read 9:43. Hermione had not come to pick up Rose yet as she was sitting on the couch next to him. He went over to the phone and called Hermione. The phone rang several times but, she didn't answer. He tried three more times but, it kept going to Hermione's voicemail box.

"Rose, you are going to spend the night here, tonight," Harry said. "James, Rose is going to sleep in your room so, go pull out the air mattress in your closet."

James nodded and ran up the stairs.

Harry transfigured Rose's clothing into a pink night gown and added sparkles on it (due to Rose's request). "Bedtime children," Harry said to Rose and Albus. He picked the sleeping baby Lily up out of her pack n play.

"But, Dad…" Albus whined as Harry ushered the two young children to the stairs.

"No buts, Albus. It's already past 10:00, which is two hours past your bed time," Harry said.

Albus stuck his tongue out at Harry when he wasn't looking.

O.o.O

James' room was huge compared to hers. It was painted red and gold and the walls were lined with Gryffindor posters with lions on them. There was a bed in the middle of the room that had a red comforter on it, a television set, a dresser, a nightstand, and several other miscellaneous furniture. Toys (both Muggle and Wizard) littered the entire floor except where the air mattress sat. There were several doors that lined the walls; Rose assumed one was a closet and one was the bathroom but, she didn't know. James sat on his bed and smiled when he noticed her.

"Here's a blanket and a pillow," James said and handed Rose the objects.

"Aren't you going to turn off the light?" Rose asked him when she was settled and tucked into bed. The light was still on.

"Nope, watch!" the lights automatically turned off. "Pretty cool, huh?"

"How did you do that?" Rose asked with curiosity. She threw her covers off and climbed onto James' bed.

"I can do other things, too. Mum and Dad say I got my magic. Your magic will come soon, though so, don't worry. Al still hasn't gotten his magic yet, either and, he is a bit older than you are,"

"Oh, good," Rose said. Relief flooded her face. She was worried that she might not be magical. "Mummy and Daddy probably wouldn't be happy if I never got my magic,"

"Auntie Hermione wouldn't mind, probably. Your Dad probably wouldn't like it, though," James said.

"Why? I know Daddy doesn't love me when he drinks the bad juice but…"

"So is what Mum and Dad say true?" James asked, politely cutting of Rose's train of thought.

"I don't know… Is what true?" Rose asked confused. She never listened to Auntie Ginny and Uncle Harry's conversation.

James crawled up next to her; so close they were almost touching. He pulled the gold chain around her neck up so the pendent, which was underneath her shirt, was revealed. The swirly M's gems twinkled in the light. "Malfoy," he whispered.

"What?" Rose said pulling the chain away from James' grasp. She did not want him to touch it, it was way too special. "You can't touch that. Draco said it was meant for me only. It doesn't come off so, you can't steal it either. Oh, and, Mummy doesn't know about it so, do not tell her," Rose added when she saw James eying it closely.

"I heard you talking to Mum and Dad. You said M stood for Malfoy and, it does. I saw this symbol, on the Malfoy Manor gates, when I was going to Wiltshire with my friends, Lorcan and Lysander. Miss Luna said the Malfoy family lived there. They are a very wealthy family," James said.

"Ok…" Rose said not understanding where he was going with this. She honestly thought there was something was wrong with him.

"You're a Malfoy. You have to be. It all makes sense now. You have the Malfoy hair and eyes and that necklace won't come off. I think it's magic; only a Malfoy can wear it and, the oldest child in the family gets it until it is passed on to the next generation. It won't come off until you have a baby, Rose. Rose Malfoy… I like it," he smiled and touched her platinum blonde curls.

"My name is Rose Weasley, not Rose Mouthboy, err… Malfoy," Rose said. She thought James was stupid. Everyone in her family knew she was Rose Weasley.

"No, your last name is your Daddy's last name and, your Daddy is Draco Malfoy,"

O.o.O

**I'm so sorry it took so long. I try to update every week but, life is getting in the way. The next few weeks are going to be crazy so, I might not update very soon. I will not abandon this story, though. Please review, I love feedback!**


	10. And So The Truth Comes Out

"What are you talking about James? My Daddy's name is Ron Weasley. Draco Malfoy is just one of my best friends," Rose said looking at him oddly.

"Draco Malfoy is your Daddy, not Ron. Uncle Ron is just your… um, fake Daddy," James said and pulled the covers up closer to his neck. Rose's hair glowed white in the darkness and, it sort of scared him a little bit.

"No you are wrong… err, well what does the word biological father mean?" Rose thought about the day Hermione and Draco were fighting about her.

"I don't know what the dictionary definition is but, I think it means real Daddy," James responded and yawned.

"James I… I think you are right. I think Draco is my Daddy," Rose said, after a few moments, a note of panic and confusion in her voice. James did not say anything.

"James?" she called. She saw that he was fast asleep, snoring softly. She snuggled up next to him and put the blankets over her legs. She was too confused to sleep alone.

O.o.O

It was three days later and Hermione, still, had not picked up Rose from the Potter's house. She honestly didn't mean to leave her there that long (although she had thought she told Ginny that Rose was going to sleep over the first night but, it slipped her mind that she did not say anything to them at all). The next morning after she dropped of Rose a letter came from an owl telling her Ron's trial was going to be in six days. She sort of forgot about there being a trial; she assumed they would have just sent him to St. Mungo's to avoid this whole thing altogether. She was starting to get second thoughts about her and Ron becoming a family again, after she sent that letter to Draco. Ron had hurt her little girl in horrific ways, ways that no child should have ever had to experience. She grew more distant to the idea of Ron being in Rose's life, after what he had done, after what he had done to their innocent child. (That did not mean she wanted Draco in Rose's life; she actually wanted quite the opposite still.) Hermione had not spoken to Ron since, the day before he hurt Rose and, the rational part of her brain told her she needed to tell him about their daughter's actual father; just in case they never saw each other again. Even if Ron only got sent to St. Mungo's, he would probably be there for life. Ron had to know his little girl was not actually his.

She flooed to the Ministry of Magic and walked into the Atrium. A lot had changed there since the war. The original fountain was rebuilt and everything was less gloomy. The workers were cheerful and there were muggle-borns, halfbloods, and purebloods alike (and every percent in between). She got her badge that read: _Hermione Granger… Seeing Prisoner _and, went into the nearest elevator. Hermione pressed the button that led to the jail holding people who were waiting for their trial. The elevator whooshed upward; Hermione was starting to have second thoughts as it stopped and, the doors opened.

O.o.O

"Ronald Weasley, you have a visitor," The guard said to the depressed looking Ron lying on his hard cell cot.

When Ron was taken into custody he was put under some heavy sleeping spells. He slept for five whole days and, thankfully when he woke up he did not have a hangover. He was confused to why he was in jail; Ron did not remember how he got there or what caused him to be there in the first place. The rumor was that he had hurt his daughter but, he didn't believe them. There was no way he would hurt Rose, or at least not bad enough for him to be awaiting trial. When he asked the guard who brought him food the man just shrugged and said he was only the food boy, not someone who knew everything about all the cases. He kept trying to ask anyone for details regarding his trial but, no one ever paid attention to his pleas. They wouldn't tell him why Hermione or his parents hadn't visited yet; he started to have a vague suspicion that maybe he did something so bad that they would never come and see him.

When the guard had said he had a visitor he nearly jumped for joy. He had been there for a few weeks. Maybe whoever was seeing him could tell him what happened.

"Mione…" he breathed as he saw her enter the room. Ron smiled brightly and attempted to run and hug her but, he forgot that he was in jail; the bars blocked him and his face turned red from embarrassment.

"Oh Ron…" Hermione said and started crying. "How could you do that to my baby? She is only four years old. No one deserves that kind of abuse at any age but… she is still a child!"

"I… Oh no! Mione, I didn't really hurt her, did I?" Ron's eyes pleaded with her to say it wasn't true. Hermione looked away as Ron's face saw the pain in her eyes.

"I don't understand why you would have done it…" Hermione whispered. Ron tried to touch her hair through the bars but, she flinched and took a step back.

"I was drunk and I reacted badly to something in the _Prophet_ I think…" Ron said vaguely remembering he got irritated at Rose from seeing something about her in the _Daily Prophet_.

Hermione's face got very white. She knew he was talking about the one that was questioning Rose's biological father. It was now or never to tell him. It broke her heart to think she was going to be tearing Rose away from the only father she ever knew [but thank goodness she finally came to her senses and, decided to tell him].

"Rose is not your child!" Hermione burst out. She started crying again. She did not think she would just go straight to the point.

"What are you talking about? She is still my baby. I'm so sorry Hermione! I never meant to hurt her… I swear on my life and on my parent's lives I never meant to do it! Please if… if there is any way to forgive me… I know I don't deserve it... but, I-I just don't want to go to Azkaban knowing that I never apologized to you… and Rose," Ron said. He looked as if he was going to cry at any second.

"No Ron… that's not what I mean. You are not her real father!"

"Of course I am still her father. I know what I did was wrong- no not wrong, unforgivable but… you can't just say I can't be her father anymore." Ron said exasperated.

"Oh, Ronald…" Hermione sighed and tears poured down her face. Ron could be so dumb and unobservant sometimes. "Ron you are not her biological father. She… she isn't yours…"

"What do you mean? How could you say that, Hermione? She is my biological daughter. I raised her and know everything about her. She can draw like me… and gray eyes are a mixture of brown and blue. I know blonde hair runs in your family Mione; your Mum has blonde hair. She likes sparkly things and chocolate chip pancakes. She cries when we fight and, she bites her lip when she thinks. She has your intelligence, Hermione and, I can tell she will be a good Quidditch player, like me, someday. She is bossy and self-centered like you and goofy like me. She is my daughter, Mione…"

"Ron I… I'm so sorry. I didn't know how to tell you… I was afraid you would reject me for carrying another man's child. I know I messed up…" Hermione said quietly.

Hermione looked at Ron's face. His eyes were pained and tears spilled down his cheeks. Somehow his bright red hair looked dull and, his face looked lifeless. He clenched the bars on his cell with anger.

"You… I… I never would have thought you of all people, Hermione, would cheat on someone and pretend the child you were having was theirs! Who is the father? Harry? I can't believe it! With my best friend, too? You are a despicable person!" Ron shouted and slammed into the bars trying to grab her.

"Not Harry…" Hermione said and looked at the ground.

"Yeah, right. If it's not Harry then who is it? It's Seamus Finnegan right? Or maybe that Ernie Macmillan kid, you two were pretty cozy in that prefect carriage,"

"No… It's not them…" Hermione was ashamed.

"Hmm… Neville? Justin Finch-Fletchley? Cormac Mclaggen? Terry Boot? Zacharias Smith? Goyle, Crabbe, Zabini?" Ron guessed.

Hermione shook her head at all of his suggestions.

"An older wizard or younger student?" Ron guessed again.

"No… Someone in our year…" She responded. Tears pricked the corners of her eyes.

"Well obviously all those people including Dean Thomas are out. That leaves those Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw outcasts and Malfoy," Ron said. When he said Malfoy Hermione's head hung lower than what it was and regret and panic showed in her eyes. Ron noticed this immediately.

"MALFOY!? HOW COULD YOU? HIM?! WHY, MIONE, WHY? IT IS HIM ISN'T IT?" Ron shouted hysterically.

Before Hermione could answer a guard came over and said she had to leave due to the prisoner's outburst.

"I'll see you on your trial date," Hermione said. She turned around and started walking out the door.

As she was leaving she heard Ron screaming something that sounded like "I'm going to kill him."

O.o.O

The Potter's had not left the house in three days due to Rose being there. They called Hermione incessantly but, she never answered. They knew something was going on with her so, they just kept Rose at their house and never bothered to leave a voice mail. Unfortunately, they needed to buy some things in Diagon Alley. Hermione was the type of parent that had to know where her daughter was going at all times. They wanted to respect her wishes and ask her if they could take Rose there but, she wouldn't answer her phone. Harry decided Rose was in no safer hands then with him and Ginny so, they went to Diagon Alley without Hermione's permission.

Harry went to get some potion ingredients from the Apothecary and Ginny took the kids into Weasley's Wizard Wheezes to say hello to George and to stop James' constant nagging.

"You two can look around while I say hello to Uncle George," Ginny said to James and Rose. "Just do not, under any circumstances, touch anything without my permission."

"We won't Mum," James said. Ginny pushed the stroller carrying Albus and Lily to the register where a fiery haired man was ringing up a couple of Hogwarts students.

Once, Ginny left, James grabbed the first few things he saw off of the shelf.

"Look, Rose. It's a Skiving Snackbox and some Filibuster Fireworks. These are really cool. Have you ever seen Filibuster Fireworks Rose? They are amazing. I heard that Uncle George and his twin brother Fred, who died in the war, lit off these fireworks in Hogwarts. I wish I could have been there to see that! I bet the professors were so mad!" James said excitedly.

"Nope, I've never seen them. Mummy said that they are dangerous. But, James, Auntie Ginny told us not to touch anything. Won't she get mad if she finds out you are not listening to her?" Rose said. She was kind of nervous. She always tried to obey rules (except in the cases that the things she wasn't supposed to touch were sparkly or expensive). "What's a Hogwarts anyways?"

"You worry too much, Rose. Hogwarts is the Wizarding School we will go to when we are eleven years old. What house do you want to be in? I want to be in Gryffindor like Mum and Dad. Gryffindor is the best house; it only takes the brave and courageous."

"House? I don't know what that is. What house was my Mummy and Daddy in?" Rose asked.

"There are four houses that you can be Sorted into by the Sorting Hat, Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, or Slytherin. Auntie Hermione was in Gryffindor and Draco Malfoy was in Slytherin," James said. (During the past two days, James had thoroughly convinced Rose that Draco was her father. She was glad to dismiss Ron from her mind; she had never liked him anyways.)

"Then how am I supposed to choose? Is there a house in between?" Rose asked. She didn't understand what would happen to her since, her parents weren't in the same house.

"There isn't a house in between but, the Sorting Hat has never failed to Sort anyone yet," James reassured her. "Let's go ask Mum if we can get ice cream. You stay here"

Rose had thought he had said, "You go there," so she left and walked out of the joke shop.

The streets were very busy so she went into the first shop she could find. As she walked into the door she saw shelves of books. She was in her Mummy's favorite shop, Flourish and Blott's. She liked that shop; especially the smell of newly printed parchment from the books.

The book store was very busy, filled with Hogwarts students. (They must have been having a field trip or something.) Rose hid in a corner in between two book shelves so she wouldn't get caught up in the commotion. Students kept coming in and, when some left others replaced them. She didn't feel like coming out of hiding so, she sat there for quite a while. No one came to get her. Unfortunately, her legs had begun to cramp. She crawled out of the corner and started to walk around. She looked around for James, Harry, and Ginny. She figured they were looking for her in the shop. After passing each book shelf a few hundred times, and not finding the Potters, she began to panic.

O.o.O

Draco Malfoy walked into Flourish and Blott's to pick up a few books for his mother (she had to get every single first edition Wizarding book so, every time a book was newly published the Malfoys had to buy it). He walked to the register quickly.

"Pickup for Draco Malfoy," he said to the cashier.

"Certainly," the woman said and went in a back room to get his books.

Draco looked at his watch impatiently. He didn't want this to take all day. The house elves were supposed to prepare a special meal in honor of the death of one of his late ancestors and, he did not want it to be cold by the time he came back.

He stared off in to space for several moments until, something grabbed his leg. He jumped and looked around, making sure no one had seen his fright over something he probably imagined.

"Draco?" a little voice said.

He turned around and looked down. Rose was clutching his pants tightly; almost as if she didn't hang on tight he would disappear. There were tangles in her curly, platinum hair and, her face was red and tear stained.

"I can't find Uncle Harry and Auntie Ginny!" Rose sobbed and hugged his leg. "I've been looking for them for years!"

He gently picked her up and held her in his arms. He brushed the tears on her face away.

"Shh. It's ok…" he said and started to rub her back. He honestly didn't know how to comfort her. "What happened?"

"I left Uncle George's shop and… Auntie Ginny… they never found me… I got lost. Mummy hasn't come back for me yet. I don't think she loves me anymore. I told her I hate her…" Rose buried her face into Draco's shoulder and cried.

"Hermione will always love you, just like I love you, too," Draco murmured in her ear.

"I love you too, Daddy," Rose said and smiled.


	11. Ice Cream

Draco pressed his lips to Rose's forehead and a few tears fell down his pale cheeks.

"Why are you crying, Daddy?" Rose asked him. She was confused; he didn't seem to be hurt or upset. She laid her head down on his shoulder; hoping it would comfort him, like he comforted her when she was sad.

"No reason…" Draco said and smiled. He did not want to worry her.

He stroked her soft tangled curls and tried to brush it out with his fingers. How could Harry and Ginny take care of a child without brushing their hair? Obviously, they did not even know how to watch their children, either; they had lost Rose somehow. Luckily, he was the one who found her; she was really scared.

Draco pulled the gold chain, from around her neck, out of the simple Muggle T-shirt she was wearing. The swirly M glittered brightly. Anyone who lived in the Wizarding world (and perhaps a few Muggles) knew that the fancy letter was the Malfoy symbol. He knew plenty of people were watching him; after all he was Draco Malfoy. _Let them see_ he thought, _she is mine and always will be_.

The woman finally came out of the back room and handed Draco a bag filled with new first edition hard cover books. He took a handful of Galleons out of his pocket and set them on the counter. The woman counted the money then nodded. Still carrying Rose, he put the large bag of books into a small one that had an extension charm on it.

"Can we get some ice cream? Auntie Ginny was going to get us ice cream before I found you," Rose said sweetly, after Draco had taken care of all the books. She pouted and used puppy dog eyes.

"Sure, why not?" Draco said. She looked so adorable when she was trying to persuade him to buy her ice cream by making cute facial expressions. He was going to get her some anyways if she asked, before she got all sweet.

They left Flourish and Blott's and went across the street to Florean Fortescue's Icecream Parlour. Luckily, not many people were there and, the was not a wait to order.

"I want the chocolate peanut butter fudge ripple in a cone," Rose said to Draco.

Draco smiled, that was his favorite flavor, too. He went up to the register and said, "One large chocolate peanut butter fudge ripple in a waffle cone."

"No, Daddy, I can't have that. Mummy says I can only have the small one," Rose said and looked at Draco in horror for ordering her the biggest one.

"Is Mummy here right now?" Draco asked. Rose shook her head no. "See? Now you can get whatever size you want. If I get you the bigger one then you will get more ice cream. You want more ice cream don't you?"

"Yes I want more…" Rose said, feeling a little guilty that she was disobeying her mother. But, hey ice cream is ice cream… right?

Mr. Fortescue (the man at the register) chuckled lightly to himself, until he realized who was actually in front of him. He did not know Draco Malfoy had a child. Surely, he would know. The Malfoys were a very prominent family in the Wizarding World. He knew Draco was not married because, his break up with Astoria Greengrass had been all over the front cover of _The Daily Prophet_ (not that he really cared). The little girl who called him 'Daddy' looked familiar to him. He just couldn't place a finger on it at that moment. One thing he knew for sure was she was definitely, without a doubt, a Malfoy. Only a Malfoy could wear the Malfoy family necklace, which shimmered extravagantly and was highly noticeable against her navy T-shirt. She also had the Malfoy whitish blonde hair and startling silver eyes.

Draco noticed Mr. Fortescue watching Rose closely. He immediately put eight silver Sickles on the counter. The man stopped paying attention to Rose and put the money in the cash register. He magically made the ice cream and handed it to Draco. "Have a nice day, Mr. Malfoy."

Draco nodded. He took Rose by the hand and led her out the door. He could tell Mr. Fortescue had his suspicions, already.

"Let's go home, now," he said as they stood in front of the shop.

"No, we can't go. Mummy and me always sits outside and eats our ice cream at the tables," Rose said and sat down on one of the metal chairs outside the ice cream place.

Draco looked around, "Alright, if we must. Just try to hurry up." _Why did I have to get her the big one?_

O.o.O

"Where is Rose, James?" Ginny asked.

Ginny had been talking to George for a few hours before, Harry came into the joke shop. Finally, after an hour of begging from James, Albus, and Harry they were going to go get ice cream. Rose had not said anything during the whole time they had been there. Ginny noticed she was not even by James anymore.

"I don't know…" James said and started to get worried. He hadn't seen her in a long time.

"What do you mean 'you don't know'? Weren't you playing with her?" Ginny said irritated.

"I… I haven't seen her since I asked you the first time if we could go get ice cream."

"Rose? Rose. Rose! ROSE!" Harry called. No one answered, but the people in the store looked at him as if he was crazy (until, they realized it was Harry Potter who was yelling out some girl's name. Then, the people went over to him trying to get his autograph. He ignored all of them, though).

"I'll look around for her in here," George said. "Lee Jordan, come run the register," he called out. Lee ran and took his place at the desk.

"Harry we need to call the Aurors… We don't know how long she's been gone… This is all my fault. I should have been paying better attention to the kids. Mione is going to kill me Harry! I just lost her daughter and, she doesn't even know that we took her out of our house," Ginny said and started to cry.

"Ginny, stop crying. I'll go look outside and look for her. If I can't find her in a half an hour, in one of the shops, we'll call the Aurors. I just have a feeling that she wandered off and is possibly still here in Diagon Alley. Normally, Wizards don't kidnap children anyways, Ginny. She could be at the Auror's office right now waiting for someone to call looking for her. In that case looking for her first would be the better option," Harry said trying to assure Ginny that Rose was probably safe.

"We'll come with you too," Ginny said, referring to her and the rest of the children. Harry nodded and they ran out of the joke shop.

Harry and James searched Quality Qudditch Supplies first, with no luck. Ginny took Albus and Lily to Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions; they didn't see Rose anywhere. Eeylop's Owl Emporium was closed at this time of the day and there was no sign of her at Flourish and Blott's.

"We haven't looked at the Apothecary or the ice cream parlour," James said to Harry. "We should go to the ice cream place first. It is a lot smaller so, we can look quicker. Mum is at Potage's Cauldron shop."

"Sure, James…" Harry said meekly as they had just come out of Wiseacre's Wizarding Equipment. Even he was starting to lose hope of finding her in Diagon Alley, after he assured Ginny he knew Rose was safe.

When they walked down the sidewalk the sight that Harry saw nearly made him faint. Rose was sitting at one of the tables in front of Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlour with a half-eaten ice cream cone in her hand. She looked like she was laughing very hard. As little figures came out of the man's wand, who was sitting across from her. The man had the same whitish blonde hair Rose did. It was Draco Malfoy.

O.o.O

Draco's eyes were transfixed on Rose while she was eating her ice cream. He watched every little lick and bite she took, as if he had never seen someone eat it before. He watched as some dribbled down her mouth and, he quickly wiped the chocolate away, afraid he would miss the chance to start acting like a father if he didn't wipe her mouth immediately. He stared into her sliver eyes and started drawing on a napkin. A few minutes later he showed her what he was drawing. The drawing looked exactly like her (even if it was just a contour drawing in pen on a napkin). Rose squealed in delight.

"Maybe you could see some of my drawings when we get home!" Rose shouted happily. Draco smiled.

"Why is there a snake on my shirt?" Rose asked curiously.

"Well, you are going to be in Slytherin when you go to Hogwarts someday and, I thought your shirt looks a bit plain today," Draco answered.

"Why will I be in Slytherin?"

"It is the best house. All Mal- the best people go there," he was careful not to say Malfoy in case she didn't know she actually was a Malfoy. He honestly didn't care how she figured out he was her father; all that mattered was that she knew.

"Mummy wasn't in Slytherin though…"

"Yes, you are right. She was in Gryffindor."

"I could be in Gryffindor then," Rose said. She licked her ice cream cone, again.

"I doubt it," Draco said nonchalantly.

"James said Gryffindor was the best house. Uncle Harry and Auntie Ginny and Mummy and all the Weasleys were in there. He said that Aunt Ginny said that all people in Slytherin were insufferable gits, which is why he thinks Albus is going to be in Slytherin. He also said you were in Slytherin so, that must mean you are a git, too. And apparently if you are in Slytherin you get to call people Mudbloods if you have a higher blood status then Muggle-borns. What's a blood status?"

"First of all, I am not an insufferable git and those aren't nice words to be calling someone. Second, if you say the word Mudblood again you are going to get a time out and I'm not going to buy you anything anymore. Third, blood status isn't important and you don't need to know about it." Draco said furious at James for telling her these things about blood status and purity.

"Why can't I know about blood status? James said Mummy is classified as a Mudblood and you are classified as a Pureblood so, I can say that word because, Mummy is a Mudblood," Rose said innocently not knowing why Draco was so upset.

"Don't you ever say Mudblood again, it's a bad word!" Draco nearly shouted. "Blood status is a fancy way of saying how much wizard you are."

"I… I'm sorry… I was calling Mummy a bad word…" Rose said and started to cry.

"It's ok, Rose. You didn't know. Mummy will forgive you, just don't say it ever again," Draco said soothingly.

Rose continued to cry and, no amount of saying 'it's ok' made the situation any better. Draco made little animal figurines come out of his wand and made them dance. His mother used to do the same thing for him when he was upset. He thought it was one of the greatest things in the world when he was a child.

Rose stopped crying immediately when she saw the little animals come out of Draco's wand. She loved magic in every way (except when magic hurt people). She started laughing uncontrollably as the little figures started to dance and play around. She giggled as she tried to touch one but, Draco made it so any time her fingers would almost touch one of them the animal would move back an inch, teasing her.

Draco was smiling until someone grabbed his shoulder and Rose was pulled out of her chair.

O.o.O

"How dare you!" Harry shouted at Draco when he grabbed Draco and pulled him into a standing position. "I should have left you to die when I had a chance to. You always ruin everything! Do you know how much pain you've caused everyone? Ginny hasn't been the same since, we found out. Mione… Who knows what's going on with her?"

"I have no idea what you're talking about," Draco said and smirked.

"You… Malfoy, you stupid insufferable git!" Harry screamed and tackled him onto the ground. Harry started hitting and punching Draco who was only trying to push Harry off of him. Rose was screaming and flailing her body in Ginny's arms.

"This is low even for you Potter," Draco said blood dripping from his lip. "If you haven't noticed you are upsetting _my daughter._" Draco smirked at the look on Harry's face- pure horror.

Harry started punching him again. People on the street were starting to stare. Harry Potter the Savior beating up Draco Malfoy the extremely rich winner of _Witch Weekly's_ Hottest Wizard competition- who wouldn't watch?

A few Aurors came and broke up the crowd. They pulled Harry off of Draco and warned Harry if he did anything like this again his Auror license would be suspended for three months.

Rose wriggled out of Ginny's grip and ran to Draco. She hugged one of his legs glaring at Harry and Ginny.

"Let's go home Rose," Ginny said and motioned for her to follow. Rose shook her head and held on to Draco tighter than before. "Rose we have to go home. Mummy needs to know you are safe. I'm not playing any games with you. James, tell Rose she needs to come home with us."

"Please Rose?" James asked but, he thought she was better off with her father. Rose shook her head no again.

"Mum, I think she wants to stay with Mr. Malfoy," James said. Ginny rolled her eyes, and got mad at her son.

"That's enough James. She is coming home with us," Harry said and tried to grab Rose but, she swatted his hand away.

"You are a mean, insufferable git, Uncle Harry! I hate you… you stupid Mudblood!" Rose shouted.

"Ginny, we are leaving. Take the kids home right now. I need a word with Malfoy here," Harry said.

He waited until Ginny and the kids left to approach Draco, "Congratulations, you really taught her well. I will make sure Hermione hears about this."

O.o.O

**Well here you go :) I was originally going to post this over the weekend. You all better say thanks to one of my best friends who insisted that I needed to update today. Please review, it means the world to me!**

**P.S. Do you think there should be minimal Dramione action in the next chapter (and I only mean a little)? Please tell me in a review by Saturday night. Thanks!**


	12. I'm So Sorry

When Hermione got the _Daily Prophet_ the next morning, she nearly threw up when she saw the front page. The article read:

**Harry Potter Beats Up Long Time Enemy, Draco Malfoy and, Who Was That Young Girl Who Would Not Let Go of Him**

_Draco Malfoy and Harry Potter have been enemies for as long as anyone can remember, and it seems it was about time before they really went at it. "He deserved everything that was coming at him," Ginny Potter (nee Weasley) said. It seems as if Potter was mad about something, he was always one to be hot headed and violent… Draco Malfoy and Harry Potter have been unavailable for comment… A bystander noticed a young child crying in Ginny Potter's arms and, automatically ran to Draco after Harry was pulled off of him. The oddest thing was that she had whitish blonde hair and something that closely resembled the Malfoy family necklace. "I have known Draco Malfoy all of my life and, I think I would know if he has had any children," close friend Blaise Zabini commented… Reports have been made that Rose Weasley could have been the young girl; unfortunately, no one is certain. Perhaps the child was a cousin or friend but, surely we will keep our eyes peeled for any news._

There were two large pictures at the bottom of the page. One of them showed Harry on top of Draco punching him; it looked as if Harry hesitated because of something that Draco said but, then he started punching him again. The other one was a close up picture of Draco's pants; a young pale girl hugged one of his legs. The girl's curly whitish blonde hair was fluffy enough to be seen from behind his pants. Then, the girl shook her head no and, enough of her face was shown to reveal her eyes were a sparkly silver color. It did look like she was wearing some kind of necklace but, it was too hard to tell. Hermione knew at once that the little girl was Rose for sure.

She had to pick up Rose before any more damage was done so, she Flooed Harry right away. He answered at once.

"Hello Mione," he said casually.

"Oh, Harry. I'm so sorry I haven't answered your calls I was… I had some things to contemplate and think over," Hermione said sheepishly. "I saw the _Daily Prophet_ this morning…"

"Well, I'm sorry I got Rose involved in it…" he said flatly. Hermione's face went pale.

"Yes, Hermione. I know everything so, don't you dare look at me like that. I can't believe you didn't tell me! After everything we have been through, too. I'm your best friend; we are supposed to be able to tell each other anything and everything! I know about Ron, also. You should tell him… about Rose; and Arthur and Molly, too." Harry said assertively.

"You aren't mad? I… I would have thought… you… Oh Harry…" Hermione said and started to cry.

"Mione, why would I ever be mad at you? Yes, I personally think having a child with Malfoy was a terrible thing to do but, I'll never be mad at your decision. Rose is one of the most adorable children I have ever seen. I'm happy that I have gotten to call her my niece all these years; and I will always be her uncle… Even if she was Ron's kid we wouldn't be blood related anyway so, it doesn't make a difference," Harry said and pulled her into a tight hug.

"Harry you are the best friend anyone could have! I… I don't know how to express how grateful I am that you are accepting and understanding with all of this…Is Rose still mad at me? I want to see her," Hermione asked Harry not pulling away from their hug.

"You're welcome Mione. Yeah, well, about seeing Rose… He um… He took her," Harry said.

"Who took Rose, Harry?" Hermione asked her face filled with worry. "Tell me Harry! Who took my baby?

"Who do you think? Malfoy of course. Man, he has his hooks in her so deep. He trained her well in the few hours that we couldn't find her. I think the last Halfblood that mocked blood status was Voldemort," Harry said.

"He has been teaching her about blood status?! How could you let her go with him? I trusted you, Harry!" Hermione flipped. She started pacing back and forth, not knowing what to do.

"Hey, how was I supposed to know that she wasn't allowed to go with him? I just thought that it would be better for her to come with us so, you would know where she was at. Oh, gosh, Hermione… you don't mean that you just told him recently… do you? I… well I thought… you were continuing to cheat on Ron with him…"

"That's none of your concern… yes… he just found out in the last few weeks and… it wasn't even me who told him… I- I told Ron yesterday about Rose… I haven't cheated on Ron since she was born Harry… why… how… I don't understand how you could think that!" Hermione said and started to sob on Harry's shoulder.

"He wasn't supposed to know… No one was supposed to know… I kept it hidden for so long and… and everything blew up in my face… He's not going to give her back, Harry… I know he is mad at me for not telling him… I can see the love spilling from his eyes when he looks at her…" she sobbed. "I'm one of the worst people in history, Harry! How could I keep her from him? None of this would have happened, if… if I would have just acted like a true Gryffindor and told him! I'm a failure to Gryffindor… I'm not brave or… or courageous. I'm a coward and-"

"Mione, stop. If he really loves Rose, he will let her come home with you," Harry cut her off.

"But, what if she doesn't want to come home with me Harry? She was so mad at me, before. She probably likes it there better. The Malfoys have more to offer her than I do… with all their fancy stuff and money. I'm sure they have already bought her love in gifts…" Tears spilled down Hermione's cheeks.

"Rose, loves you Hermione. I lost track of how many times she asked if you were coming to get her. I don't think she would leave you for Malfoy," Harry reassured her.

Hermione nodded; she knew what she had to do but, she didn't know if she could bear to do it- she had to get Rose back; no matter how hard it was going to be on her.

O.o.O

Draco went into Rose's room and watched her sleep. Her light hair was sprawled out across the pink silk pillow she was lying on. She had the silver sable fur blanket pulled up closely to her neck and it looked like she kicked the pink silk comforter onto the floor. Her lips were curled into a smile and her eyes fluttered slightly when he brushed her soft rosy cheeks with his fingers. In her arms she clutched an emerald stuffed dragon and a pink stuffed unicorn. As he sat on her bed he thought about the previous night:

"_Rose I have something to show you," he said as he set Rose down from Apparating into the Manor._

_Rose followed him up two flights of white marble stairs and down several corridors. She couldn't believe this was actually her Daddy's house. Her Mummy's house was a lot smaller and she couldn't possibly ever get lost in it. She hoped Draco knew where he was going and how to get back because, she was afraid that if he got lost they would never find their way back downstairs. They walked for a few minutes longer and, her feet started to get tired._

"_My feet hurt!" she whined to Draco._

"_Well, don't worry about that because, we are here," Draco said. He stopped walking and slowly turned the silver knob on one of the doors._

_Rose gasped as she walked inside the door. The room was absolutely ginormous; several of her mother's master bedroom could fit in the room. The walls were painted baby pink with shiny silver abstract designs and swirls on it. There was a large king sized bed in the middle of the back wall with a pink silk diamond encrusted comforter, a real silver sable fur blanket, pink sparkly silk pillows, pink silk sheets, and pink silk curtains tied back around the silver bedposts. Three pink couches surrounded an entertainment center that had a 52 inch flat screen 3D T.V on it (Draco knew Hermione had one of those boxes with moving pictures on it and, Rose liked it. They only had a wizard one that showed Quidditch, Potion recipes and guides, broom flying lessons, and lots of commercials for advertising wizard products. Rose had the Muggle one that had lots of shows on it. Of course he bought one of the nicest ones the Muggle store had for Rose to make her feel more at home). There were mountains of assorted toys and stuffed animals in one corner of the room. There was a large silver dresser, a desk, and a large silver book shelf; that was currently only filled with a few children's books. A large set of French doors opened to a princess fairy tale like balcony that had an amazing view of the horizon. Another set of French doors opened into a huge walk in closet._

_Rose squealed in delight when she walked into the closet. It was lined top to bottom with clothing racks (6 rows around the entire wallspan). Each rack held more clothes then it was supposed to; there were dresses, robes, night gowns, and various Muggle shirts, pants, shorts, skirts, and pajamas._

"_Are all these clothes mine?" Rose asked smiling her 1000 volt smile._

"_Of course but, this isn't all," Draco said and pressed a button on the wall. A few of the racks turned sideways to reveal a silver door. "This is the accessory room."_

_The room looked like a shoe store, a jewelry, store, a sunglasses store, a real gemmed tiara store, and a hair bow/headband store all in one. Rose tried on several necklaces and bracelets because she couldn't decide which ones to wear._

"_Thank you soooo much, Daddy!" Rose said and hugged Draco._

"_You're welcome my sweet angel," Draco said and ruffled her hair. "Pinksy will pick you out an outfit to wear and bring you down for dinner when you are ready."_

"Daddy, why were you watching me sleep?" Rose asked bringing Draco back to reality.

"I don't know. Maybe I like when you sleep," Draco said.

Rose stared at him intensely with her stormy silver eyes, not looking away or blinking.

"What's wrong?" Draco asked wondering why she was trying to stare him down.

Her face broke out into a big smile, "Nothing's wrong… you just love me! You never say it but, I heard you thinking it!"

"How did you… Rose try to figure out what I am thinking right now," Draco said in an excited voice.

"You think I might have started getting my magic and, you think that maybe I'm doing Le-gilli- men- cee on you," Rose said.

"Yes," Draco said and smiled. Normally young wizards started developing magical abilities around the ages of 5 to 9 years old. Rose was one of those few people who exhibited their talents early on like both Draco and Hermione. "Well it's already 10:30. We need to start getting ready for the day."

O.o.O

Hermione arrived at Malfoy Manor feeling extremely sick. She was on unfriendly territory and, she didn't know how this whole thing was going to go over. Luckily, the front gates were opened so, she didn't have to use the callbox. He would have never let her in the gates for sure if he knew who was calling.

As she approached the front door she saw a few house elves tending the front landscaping. She quickly hid behind a pillar when an elf walked in her direction. He soon left and she quickly rang the doorbell hoping a nice house elf would answer the door, not one of the Malfoys.

"Oh, welcome Miss Hermione," Pinksy the house elf said as she answered the door. "What brings you here?"

"I… Can I come in? I need to have a talk with Draco and see Rose," Hermione said hoping Pinksy did not have orders to keep Hermione from coming in the house.

"Sure, come in. Pinksy will go find Master Draco and young Mistress Rose for you to see,"

Hermione stepped inside the front door. It looked so much different from the time she was last in there. Before everything seemed grayed out and gloomy now, it was white and shining with beauty. Her Mudblood scar on her arm tingled slightly and brought back bad memories from when she was tortured by Bellatrix Lestrange.

"Mummy!" Rose cried and ran over to Hermione after Draco and her Apparated downstairs. Draco swore under his breath.

"Oh, Rose, I'm so sorry I didn't tell you that you were going to stay at Uncle Harry's house for that long. I hope you aren't mad at me anymore. I've missed you so much! I love you Rosie angel," Hermione said and picked her up into a hug.

"I love you too Mummy! I'm sorry I said I hated you and called you and Uncle Harry a Mudblood. Daddy said it was a bad word and, I shouldn't say it," Rose said and hugged her mother.

"What did you just say?" Hermione questioned.

"I'm sorry I called you a bad word. I hope you can forgive me," Rose said and got a little but scared that Hermione was not going to forgive her.

"Oh, baby, it's ok. Of course I will forgive you!" Hermione reassured her daughter. "But you said Daddy…"

"James told me Draco was my Daddy," Rose said happily, not seeing her parent's obvious discomfort. "Do you want to see my room Mummy? It's really pretty! Daddy can you take me and Mummy to my room?"

"How about later angel?" Hermione said. Draco stood off to the side staring at the floor.

"Why not now?" Rose said impatiently.

Hermione didn't respond.

"Why are you uncomfortable here Mummy? Why do you wish things could have turned out differently?" Rose said looking into Hermione's mind.

"Rose…" Hermione said as realization dawned on her. "How about you go play while Draco and I have a little chat?"

Rose shrugged and went into a different room, leaving Hermione and Draco alone together.

"I can't believe you kidnapped her, Malfoy! She was perfectly fine staying with Harry and Ginny!" Hermione shouted.

"Right, so, she could wander off again and someone who wants to hurt children finds her? No, I was not going to let that happen again. Potter has enough children that he doesn't know how to take care of. Besides it's not kidnapping if there are not court decisions that gives the mother full custody of the child. As far as I can tell we both have equal custody of her every day of the week. So it's like if I was taking her out while you were at work. That is by no means kidnapping, Hermione!" Draco concluded.

"Whatever, you are still a git, Malfoy! You shouldn't have taken her! She is my baby, and you knew that she was supposed to be at Harry's house! You knew I wouldn't have found out unless Harry told me!"

"Oh, grow up, Hermione! She is my baby, too! What can I do to make you open your eyes and see that I love her more than anything else in the world? I tried to make you see by getting her gifts and giving money; I sent back those papers because, I want to keep her and be her father. I didn't know what else to do; taking her was the only other option I had left. Rose is the only good thing I've ever made; I just can't let you take her away from me, now…" Draco said sincerely as few tears slid down his face.

"Oh, Draco I-I'm so sorry…" Hermione said tears had begun to fall from her eyes, too.

O.o.O

**So here are a few things you should know about this chapter: in the fake newspaper the … means that Hermione skimmed/skipped the article. Also I know the whole real silver sable fur blanket can be a controversial topic. I am totally against real fur on anything I think it is cruel and unjust to skin animals alive for their fur. I just thought Rose needed an expensive soft blanket and real animal fur came to mind.**

**P.S. I know no real Dramione action happened but I felt like it needed to end here. Maybe in the next chapter.**

**P.S.S. Please review! I absolutely love reading reviews! Thank you to my faithful reviewers; you are the best 3!**


	13. Civil

"No you're not. Don't say things you do not mean! I know you just said that to benefit yourself. You probably thought that I would bow down to your every wish. I'm not that dumb; after all, I was only second to you in school," Draco said, mad that Hermione would lie to him.

"I am truly sorry! I was wrong, ok? I did not think that you would care. I thought if I told you, you would get mad and pressure me to get an abortion. I didn't want to do that, she didn't deserve to die just because of a stupid mistake. Once you found out I, was scared to let you in her life. First of all I absolutely hate you. Second, I didn't want to tell Ron. And third, I don't want a custody battle; she is too young to understand and, it will be hard on her," Hermione protested. She wiped away the tears on her face.

"You didn't always hate me, Hermione…" Draco said and smirked. Hermione rolled her eyes. "I'm not going to fight you for her, not unless it comes to that. Weasel deserved for you to tell him, Rose is too good to be his daughter anyways. I will never harm her and, obviously my life is good enough to not waste it on drinking all the time. Why would you think that I would force you to get an abortion?"

"Oh, I don't know. Maybe, because, blood status was everything to your family. A Halfblood child would ruin generations upon generations of pure wizard blood,"

Draco looked uncomfortable and wished he hadn't said anything. "My father was the only one who truly believed in that. Mother, did think she was superior to everyone but, blood purity never really bothered her. I never believed in that, or well, at least until I met you. I didn't understand how some Muggle-Born wizard could beat me, one of the rich Pureblood elites, at every single test. All the teachers liked you, even Snape although he never said anything about it. I began to wonder why that was. How could you be better than me? Don't answer that, it was a rhetorical question. Once I found out that Voldemort was a Halfblood, I knew that his views towards Muggles and Muggle-Borns were wrong."

"Obviously, your views hadn't changed that drastically. You still always called me a Mudblood," Hermione said.

"I liked irritating you, until you punched me in third year. Then, I only said it once in a while,"

"You deserved it! Oh, and I'm better than you because, I actually have to work for the things I do. You have gotten everything handed to you. Being smart only can give you so much. You have to put in the effort to study," Hermione said and smiled.

"I told you that was a rhetorical question, meaning you weren't supposed to answer it. I thought you were smart enough to know big words like that,"

"I know what it means," Hermione stated.

"So… you are sorry?" Draco asked casually, looking at the floor. He noticed there was a dark speck on the white marble flooring and reminded himself to tell a house elf to clean it off.

"Yes… I am truly sorry. I don't expect you to forgive me, though," Hermione sighed.

"I don't know if I ever will be able to except your apology, at least not for a while. I can understand why you did what you did though,"

Hermione nodded; she didn't expect everything to be all sunshine and rainbows. She did something inappropriate. At least he acknowledged her apology, which was all that mattered. "What are we going to do about this situation with Rose?"

"She can live with you I suppose. I want to be able to visit her at any time. We are just going to fight if I tell you what I really want," Draco said.

"I accept your terms," Hermione said. She knew that he wanted Rose to live with him; at least some days out of the week.

"I figured," Draco said playing with the buttons on his suit jacket.

"Well… I have some things to do tonight so, Rose and I will be leaving now," Hermione said awkwardly.

Draco didn't expect anything different.

O.o.O

Hermione took Rose to the park for a few hours so, she could have some fun. She knew Rose wasn't too happy about leaving Draco's house without showing her mother her room. Rose often forgot stuff she was mad about if she was occupied with something she liked to do. She had to take Rose home when her accidental magic took over and started making the flower buds bloom in the park garden. All the park children started watching. Hermione didn't need any more problems involving her daughter.

When they got home it was starting to get late. Hermione put a roast in the oven and started chopping carrots carefully. Rose watched in interest.

"Why do you cook Mummy? Daddy says the house elves cook the food at his house and, he doesn't have to do a thing. It's much faster 'cause they use magic. Why don't you use magic or let Pinksy come live with us?" Rose asked innocently.

"We don't need Pinksy to help us, sweetie. I can help you do anything you need. I like cooking without magic and most house elves would prefer not to live in our house (which was false, most house elves wanted to work in wizard's homes),"

"'Cause our house is too small?" Rose asked.

"No because, they shouldn't be overworked like the ones in Draco's home… our house isn't too small, Rose. We don't need anything bigger," Hermione said.

"Daddy's house is a lot bigger and nicer than ours and, Uncle Harry's is bigger than ours too. Why didn't you buy a bigger one, like them?"

"We couldn't afford a bigger house, Rose. Besides, you have your own room here and your own playroom. Many children share a bedroom with a brother or sister and, aren't as lucky as you. When I was a child my parents lived in an apartment and it was smaller than this house. I shared a bedroom with my cousin, when my uncle and aunt passed away, until she went to college," Hermione said, upset that Rose was starting to dislike the size of the house she grew up in.

"Oh, my room at Daddy's house is bigger and I don't have to share it with anyone," Rose stated.

"Go live with him and then you will never see me or this house again!" Hermione shouted unable to control her temper.

Rose started to cry, "No, I want to see you Mummy! I love you! I want to see you every day!"

"Oh, Rose, I'm sorry. I'm never going to leave you. I just got upset. I love you more than anything and, I want to see you every day, too! Just please, stop comparing this house to Draco's," Hermione said and picked up Rose.

"Ok, Mummy. As long as I can still be your little girl," Rose said and threw her arms around Hermione's neck.

"Why don't you start getting ready to take a bath, upstairs, while I finish chopping the carrots? Don't forget to pick what bubbles you want," Hermione said changing the subject. "I will be up there in a minute."

"Ok Mummy!" Rose squealed and ran up the stairs. She absolutely loved taking baths; Hermione was extremely grateful, Albus Potter fought his parents to take baths. Ginny was always complaining about how she wished Albus was like James and, did what they told him to do.

Hermione put the carrots in a pot and set them on the stove burners. She set the timer and cleaned the cutting board. She hoped the dinner would turn out alright. She hadn't gone grocery shopping in a few weeks and she rarely ever made carrots. Ron had liked them; not her. The thought of breaking Ron's heart made tears come to her eyes. But, it was for the best; she was doing the right thing by telling him the truth. 'Better late than never,' her mother always said.

She hadn't realized his trial was the next day. She needed someone to watch Rose or else she had to come. She could ask Harry and Ginny but, they would probably want to go. Her parents were on vacation for the week and she couldn't ask them. Perhaps, she could call Luna and see if she could watch Rose. She was just about to use the Floo when she heard Rose shouting, "Hurry up Mummy! I want to take a bath now!"

"Alright, Rose, I'm coming," Hermione shouted back to her and started walking up the stairs.

Hermione went to Rose's room and picked a purple night gown out of Rose's closet and got a pair of purple polka dot underwear from her dresser drawer. She set them on the top of the dresser and went into the bathroom. Rose was sitting on the floor, playing with a rubber duck and smiled when Hermione came in the room.

Hermione smiled back at her daughter. She turned the bathtub nozzle to warm and plugged the drain.

"Which bubbles do you want, Rose?" Hermione asked.

"These ones!" Rose said happily. She gave Hermione the red cherry scented bubble soap. Hermione poured the red soap in and pink bubbles grew in the tub.

Rose took off the black cashmere sweater and the silk silver tank top she was wearing and threw them on the bathroom floor. Hermione took the garments and set them on the sink counter, not wanting them to get ruined by splashing water.

"Mummy, can you please unbutton my jeans? I can't do it," Rose said fidgeting with the button and zipper on the black skinny jeans she was wearing.

Hermione nodded and took the jeans off of her. They were a pair of black denim designer Gucci skinny jeans and Hermione was awestruck. Who in their right mind would pay such a large amount of money for designer jeans for a four year old? Hermione shook her head in irritation.

Rose climbed in the tub and started blowing at the bubbles. Hermione put shampoo in Rose's hair and started scrubbing her blonde head in gentle strokes as Rose played with a pink toy boat. When Hermione was done she rinsed her hair out with water and put conditioner in it. She put body wash on a sponge for Rose to wash herself with; since, Rose begged to use the sponge all the time.

Hermione watched her daughter and smiled as she splashed around and bubbles flew on the tip of her nose. She was about to wash it off when something grabbed her shoulder. Hermione yelped and jumped.

"Merlin, Hermione, it is just me," Draco Malfoy said smirking at her reaction.

"What are you doing here?" Hermione's eyes were still wide with fear.

"I thought we agreed I could see Rose whenever I wanted,"

"Oh, um, right. I just thought you would come at a reasonable time," Hermione said and rolled her eyes. If Draco was going to do this every night, this was going to get on her nerves.

"Actually I needed to talk to you,"

"Just because we have come to an agreement, doesn't mean that we're friends, Malfoy," Hermione said.

"Back to last names I see; fine then Granger. Speaking of that, I want you to change Rose's last name to Malfoy. She is not a Weasley and, I won't tolerate that any longer. A Malfoy shouldn't be degraded like that, with having Weasley as their legal last name,"

"Who do you think you are? Just because, you don't like something doesn't mean you will get what you want. Stop belittling the Weasleys; they have done more for me than you can possibly imagine," Hermione huffed.

"I'm Draco Malfoy thank you very much and, I _always_ get what I want one way or another. The Weasley's are good for nothing poverty razed trash; the only Weasley that has it made is Ginny for marrying Saint Potter and, even they don't have that much money!"

"Whatever Malfoy. Maybe I won't change her last name just to spite you," Hermione said and smiled.

Before Draco had a change to say anything the timer on the oven started beeping.

"Crap, my roast is done." Hermione muttered. She did not want it to burn but, she couldn't leave Rose in the bathtub all by herself.

"I'll watch her, Hermione," Draco said hearing what Hermione had said.

Hermione narrowed her eyes. "This isn't going to be funny business. You better act like an adult and watch my daughter because, so help me, if anything happens to her you are going to wish you had never been born!"

"Merlin, Hermione, I'm fully capable of watching Rose. Besides even if I turned around for a second I could pull her out of the water easily,"

"You had better watch her like a hawk then because, if her head goes under water… Let's just say I've have a few hexes up my sleeve that I have been waiting to try out on someone," Hermione said sternly and walked out of the bathroom.

O.o.O

Draco took in everything about Rose. Her wet pale curls hung limply at her back and weren't so bouncy anymore. Her eyes were a sparkly silver color and her little fingers were all pruned from being in the bathtub. She looked adorable splashing at the water so bubbles would fly up in all directions. The way she smiled, so happy and care free, melted Draco's heart. He once thought his heart couldn't become attached to anyone but, he would never stop loving his perfect daughter.

"Merlin forbid Draco!" Hermione screamed. Draco turned around when he heard Hermione's loud voice. He didn't do anything wrong.

"I was watching her like you said," Draco said. There was a confused look in his eyes.

"Yes, I can see that you pervert! That's your daughter for crying out loud. I saw where you were looking Draco!"

"What the hell Hermione! I wasn't! Besides it wouldn't matter anyways since I'm her father; I have the right to look anywhere I want on her body,"

"Whatever, that's still inappropriate. Keep your eyes above her neck, while I go finish preparing my dinner," Hermione said and walked back out of the bathroom.

"I can't believe you would think that I would be turned on by a four year old; and my daughter no less!" Draco called. Hermione didn't respond, he was an idiot.

"Daddy, I'm all done now. My towel is right there," Rose said and pointed to the towel hanging from the door handle.

Draco got up and grabbed the towel and handed it to her.

"No, no, Daddy! You have to dry me off, like the way Mummy dries me off," Rose said and handed him back the towel.

Draco reluctantly started drying her off gently. He didn't want to hurt her by rubbing her skin too hard or something. He made sure every drop of water came off of her. He saw a brush on the floor and started brushing out all of the knots and tangles out of Rose's hair.

When her curls were smooth and tangle free he wrapped the towel around her and scooped her up into his arms like a baby. He brought her into his room and tried to start putting her clothes on.

O.o.O

When Hermione was done setting everything up, she came upstairs and headed for the bathroom. She heard giggles coming from Rose's room so, she walked over to her room and stood in the doorway.

"No, Daddy! My arm goes there," Rose said and giggled as Draco purposely tried to put Rose's foot in the arm of her night gown. He tickled her and she laughed uncontrollably.

Hermione saw how much Draco truly cared about his daughter as she watched them play on the floor, "Draco, you know how Ron's trial is tomorrow? Well, would you want to watch Rose?"

O.o.O

**If all of my followers read this story and post a review I could get over 100 reviews for one chapter. Thank you to the amazing people who review for nearly every chapter; I definitely wouldn't have the confidence to keep going with this if it wasn't for you!**


	14. Party Time

Hermione dropped Rose off at Draco's house early the next morning. She had no idea what had come over her the previous night. She didn't understand why she had asked Draco to watch Rose in the first place. She hadn't even realized what she had said until he smiled and said, 'Of course. What time are you going to drop her off tomorrow morning?' Maybe it was the way he adored Rose, or the way he made her laugh that made her blurt it out. She didn't know but, there were bigger things that were on her mind that morning.

She called Ginny and Harry to let them know Ron's trial was scheduled in the late morning. They decided to come to give Hermione moral support. Harry didn't judge Hermione's choice to keep Rose's real father a secret and, simply condoned a grown man abusing a young child. Ginny was conflicted because, Ron was her brother but, sided with Hermione for what he had done to Rose. She was extremely thankful that her best friends understood the situation and were not blaming her for everything.

Hermione knew Molly and Arthur should know about the situation with Ron, too, but, she didn't know how to tell them. She kept putting off calling them every day for the past few weeks. Finally, she decided that, since it was Ron's trial day, she had to at least tell them what Ron did to Rose and, to come to the Ministry to see the verdict. When she told them, they were at a loss for words. She even blurted out Draco was Rose's father and, she wasn't even a Weasley. Hermione started crying. She hurt some of the most loving, caring people who had always treated her like a daughter. Arthur had put a hand on her shoulder and then, hugged her. Hermione kept whispering 'I'm sorry' over and over again. Arthur just let her cry in his arms. Molly stormed out of them room; she was so mad that she could not even stand to look at Hermione anymore.

O.o.O

Hermione entered the court room with a heavy heart. She felt like this may be the last time she would ever see her husband again. She knew he had hurt Rose and, was a terrible person but, that didn't make it any less painful. She still somewhat liked him as more than just friends- not loved; she had never truly been in love with him, they just had always had a special relationship together. She walked slowly up the rows of seats, going to the family section. Her head sagged and she wiped away a stray tear from her cheeks; things weren't going to turn out good for Ron and, even if they did, he would never want to see her again. Not after what she had told him about Draco. She finally saw Harry's messy black hair and Ginny's fiery red hair from where they were sitting. Hermione came and sat next to them. Ginny nodded in acknowledgment. Harry smiled at her, meekly.

"Mione, I just want to tell you, that whatever happens at this trial, you are not the one to blame. I know you are going to beat yourself up about this, if it turns out bad. I hate to be the bearer of bad news Hermione but, he deserves to go to Azkaban and I won't do anything to help him out if I have to testify. I hope he gets what he deserves," Harry said putting his hand on her shoulder.

"Harry, I know. It's just that, well… I know in my heart that he is a monster and, should not even be allowed to walk this Earth but, I can't help feeling guilty. I did bring this onto myself. He saw that stupid _Daily Prophet_ article questioning Rose's paternity and, then he flipped. I know he was overly drunk but, if the whole world already knew that Rose was a Malfoy then, this would not have happened. Hell, I probably wouldn't be married to Ron if I told him and Draco in the first place. It is my fault, Harry. Nothing will ever change that," Hermione said and sighed. She hated her life right then and there.

"Did you make him hurt Rose? No, Mione, you didn't. It was entirely his fault. Even if you did tell him and, he was mad, that is absolutely no reason to take it out on another human being; a four year old little girl, no less," Harry said trying to make Hermione see reason.

Arthur Weasley walked up to where Hermione and the Potters were sitting and, took a seat next to Hermione. "Hello, Molly couldn't be here today. She is too mad to see reason right now but, Ron has been unstable all of his life. I knew it was only a matter of time before he did something he would regret. He has always been jealous of people who had something that he wanted."

"I'm happy you could come, Arthur. I know I made a terrible mistake and, this incident stems from my wrong doings. It means so much to me that you can forgive me for what I have done," Hermione said and hugged the elder Weasley.

"This is not your fault, dear. Molly and I knew in our brains and eyes that Rose wasn't our son's biological daughter but, our hearts deceived us. We just didn't want to accept that, we had one less grandchild. Honestly, Draco Malfoy had crossed our minds many times and, seemed to be the most obvious candidate. It's probably better that Draco Malfoy is Rose's father. He has money and, can provide the best future for her. Also, she shattered the Malfoy Pureblood legacy which is something to be proud of. A Malfoy falling for a Muggle- Born and producing a child is something that should be text book material. Also, I'm pretty sure Rose is the only child born of a Slytherin and Gryffindor parent, which once the wizarding world finds out will be big news. Nothing good can come out of being a Weasley," Arthur said sincerely.

Hermione was speechless. How could Arthur be happy that Rose was a Malfoy? Sure, being a Malfoy must have its perks but, he just ridiculed the Weasley name. She did not have much time to think on the matter because, a few guards brought Ron into the courtroom.

Hermione held her breath and, her heart was beating rapidly. She stared at him, until he caught her eyes. She saw anger and mistrust in his blue eyes and, wanted to cry. She didn't though; he did not deserve the satisfaction to see that he hurt her feelings. She was not the one at fault; he was. She made her eyes show a reflection of anger and, he quickly turned away when he saw he was not getting to her.

"Let the court proceed to this hearing of Ronald Bilius Weasley," The Head Wizengamot judge said.

O.o.O

Draco had forgotten that the next morning was Arianna Nott- Parkinson's grand birthday celebration gala. He just automatically accepted watching Rose that day, without a moment's hesitation. When Hermione dropped Rose off with a bag of toys and such, a feeling of dread washed over him. How the hell was he supposed to take Rose to that stupid party without anyone finding anything out? Narcissa Malfoy had accepted that she and Draco would be attending the party on the day the invitation was sent out. There was no way Narcissa would let Draco stay home; it would be rude and, they had to make a good impression. His mother had suggested that since, Lucius was on house arrest he could watch Rose; he would not be able to attend the party anyways. At once, he made up his mind that he would just have to take his daughter to Arianna's birthday party; he did not trust Lucius enough to let him watch his daughter.

Draco put a black crisp tuxedo on and, was combing his blonde hair to the side when he heard Rose squealing, "Daddy, Daddy look! Look what Pinksy did!"

Rose ran into Draco's bathroom wearing a royal blue dress adorned with real sapphires and diamonds. Her royal blue little girl heels clicked on the marble flooring. "Don't I look cute, Daddy?" Rose twirled around and, her dress shimmered hypnotically. She had a silver tiara encrusted with sapphires on her platinum head. A huge smile was plastered on her face.

"You look beautiful, Rose," Draco said and smiled. Pinksy and the other house elves had really outdone themselves with their uncanny ability to make Rose look perfect. "You will be the prettiest one there."

Rose giggled and urged Draco to hurry up. She had never been to a party that wasn't for someone in her close family or one of Luna's kid's parties. Finally, Draco said they were going to leave now and Rose ran out of Draco's room.

"Young ladies do not run in a dress, Rose. What will all the young boys think, at the party?" Narcissa Malfoy chastised Rose for running down the hallway.

"I run around with James, Al, and Teddy when they make me play tag and, I wear dresses. Vicky wears dresses and runs, too!" Rose protested. She did not understand why Grandma Cissa thought running in a dress was bad. She didn't care about any of the boys at the party. The other girls probably ran in their dresses. Boys ran in their nice attire so, why couldn't girls run in their nice dress attire?

"Malfoy's do not run, Rose," Narcissa said sternly.

"Well, maybe if I can't run I don't wanna be a Mouthboy. Whatever that is anyways," Rose said and crossed her arms.

"Listen, Rose," Narcissa said and grabbed her wrist, "If you embarrass us at this party your room will go bye bye and you'll have to sleep on the cold floor tonight."

"Mother, what are you doing?" Draco said as he saw his mother holding her arm and threatening her.

"Setting some rules for Ari's party. Oh, I'm sorry, Rose. I don't know what came over me," Narcissa said and let go of her arm.

Rose ran straight into Draco's arms and wrapped her arms around his neck , "I don't have to sleep on the floor tonight, do I?" Rose whispered.

"Of course not. Grandma Cissa just wants you to be a good girl tonight. You can be good tonight can't you? I'll get you something special," Draco said, also bribing her because, his reputation was at stake, too.

"I'll try," Rose said sincerely and, snuggled into his chest.

O.o.O

The Malfoys (along with Rose) entered Theodore and Pansy Nott's home. Their house was bigger than Harry Potter's but, definitely not as grand as the Malfoy estate. A house elf took Narcissa's wrap and another one led the three of them into the ballroom.

The ballroom was fairly large and decorated in all things pink. Pink balloons were bewitched to float in miscellaneous directions without losing any air. Pink streamers and bows lined the walls and a large buffet table filled with food ran along one of the walls. An ever falling punch fountain was situated in the middle of the room in front of a dozen tables and chairs, next to a large pink wedding- like cake. People danced on the dance floor and requested the DJ to play their favorite Wizarding band. Others mingled and ate at the tables.

"Draco!" Pansy called and rushed over to him. Narcissa went to go talk with some of her friends. "It's been such a long time, I'm so glad you could make it Ari has been pestering me all day about when you will get here! Oh, Draco, who's this little princess?" Pansy asked once she fully noticed Draco was holding a dressed up little girl.

"She- she um, she's mine," Draco said, and told Pansy the truth since, he couldn't come up with a believable lie.

"Since when Draco? I mean I saw the _Prophet_ but, honestly the man in the picture with the little girl was only shown from the waist down. I thought it was just an onlooker and, Rita Skeeter played it off like it was you to make juicy gossip. Why haven't you told anyone or, brought her to anything?" Pansy asked caught off guard. She was extremely confused.

"Since, she was alive. Honestly, Pansy that was a stupid question. I just found out about her a few weeks ago and, yes the Prophet was correct. You better not say anything to anyone; I don't need everyone finding out yet. I just need some more time before it goes public."

"Who's the mother, Draco?" Pansy asked curiously.

"None of your business and, I am not going to tell you so wipe that look off of your face," Draco said as Pansy started pouting.

"Oh Merlin, don't tell me it's Daphne Greengrass?!" Pansy said excitedly. "That's why you broke up with Astoria!"

"No, Pansy. It is not Daphne and, she is over there so, you had better not start any rumors. I broke up with Astoria because she is a bitch and, I couldn't take having her around any longer. Finding out that I had a child was my ticket out of marrying her," Draco said and set Rose down on the floor. "Angel, can you go put this present with all those other presents over there?"

Rose nodded and walked as quickly as she could to the table without being classified as running. Thankfully she had stowed her drawing materials in Narcissa's bag so she crawled under the table and got them out. She sat down in the corner of the room and began to draw the scenery of the room.

"What are you doing?" A boy about her age said and pulled the sketch book out of her hands.

"Drawing. Give it back!" Rose said assertively.

"Ok, I haven't seen you at anyone else's birthday party. My name is Antonio Zabini. What's yours?"

"Rose Wea- err Rose Malll- foy," she said pronouncing Malfoy slowly so she would say it right.

"Oh, cool! So, you are related to Draco?"

"He's my Daddy," Rose said and smiled.

"Then come on! You can be part of the secret club!" Antonio said and led Rose under the table that the cake was on top of.

"Rose meet, Ari and TJ Nott, Jenessa Greengrass, my little sister Bella, Donald and Everett Goyle, Harley and Lacey Flint, Douglas Parkinson, Wendy and Vince Bulstrode, and Gracie Crabbe. The other kids are too big, small, or don't want to get in trouble by joining the club. Take your shoes off and set them by the others. I know how uncomfortable dress shoes are,"

Rose kicked off her heels and giggled at the way her feet looked like they didn't have any toes because of the pantyhose she was wearing.

"So, Rose tell us some things about you. We don't really have anything to talk about right now anyways," Ari said.

"Um, ok I guess. I like to draw and wear pretty clothes. I only like my fake cousin James. Um… I really don't know what to say," Rose said. They had not asked a very specific question.

"What are your parents like? Who is your Mummy? Do they get all lovey dovey like my parents or do they just hold hands like Jen's parents? Do they get you lots of nice things? My Mummy and Daddy get me nice things! Have they ever thrown you a big birthday party gala? I get one every year!" Ari said excitedly piling question after question on Rose.

"My Mummy and Daddy are mean to each other most of the time and, they don't live together. They don't hold hands or anything else. My Daddy buys me lots of cool stuff. I don't have big birthday parties though," Rose said jealously.

"So who is your Mummy? You didn't answer, Rose," Antonio pointed out.

"Oh! My Mummy is Hermione Weasley," Rose said. All of the children's mouths dropped open and, they were all silent.

"What's the matter?" Rose asked all of them.

O.o.O

**Question: What should Ron's outcome of the trial be?**

**He gets let go, free of all charges.**

**He gets let go but, he has to go to therapy.**

**He goes to Azkaban.**

**Other**

**Please Review! Tell me what the answer should be, too.**


	15. Party Time Continued

"Why are all of you staring at me?" Rose asked; all of the children's eyes were wide and, glued to her face.

"You mean Hermione Weasley as in the Muggle-born war hero and, best friend of Harry Potter, Hermione Weasley?" Antonio asked in uncertainty.

"Yes, Hermione Weasley is my Mummy," Rose said. "Draco Malfoy is my Daddy."

Half of the children were in disbelief and confusion; they honestly did not think that Rose was telling the truth. Hermione was famous so, wouldn't Draco Malfoy love her? Why would he have a child with a Muggle-born wizard? The other half were looking at Rose in astonishment and wonder. They couldn't believe that her mother was in books and knew Harry Potter (supposedly the greatest man who ever lived).

"Does that mean that you are not a Pureblood wizard?" Bella asked. Antonio nudged her and motioned her to drop the subject. Rose shrugged her shoulders; James just told her what her mother and father's blood status was, not hers. No one made a peep after that; they did not know what to say.

"So, Rose, are you going to be at the big Reunion Pool Party the Malfoy's host every year?" Antonio asked to break the silence. She didn't know what to say, she had never heard of a reunion pool party before.

"Don't tell me you don't know what he is talking about!" Ari shrieked. "It's only the greatest party ever! Have you ever seen the Malfoy pool? It is huge and there are dozens of water slides that go into it! I wish we had enough room in our yard for something like that. But, anyways, the party is for the Hogwarts Reunion. Anyone who ever went to Hogwarts can come but, usually only the Slytherins do, unless they married someone from a different house. Mum already made a Slytherin bathing suit for TJ and me. It's a tradition that you wear your parent's House apparel unless you are a student; then you wear the House you were Sorted into's colors. I hope you will be there. I mean I'm guessing you live at your Mum's house, which is why you do not come to any of the party's we have and stuff like that."

"Oh, yep, I live with my Mummy. I hope I can go too, I'll ask Mummy if she would be ok with that. She would have to get me a new bathing suit though."

"Yeah, I'd love to see yours, Rose! It will be like Christmas colors! We rarely ever see multicolored bathing suits and when we do it's usually green and blue. I have never seen a red and green one before," Ari said.

"Mmm, I think dinner is ready," Vince said dreamily. Ari looked upset that he ended the conversation with Rose. That boy could smell food a mile away. "Come on guys, remember one at a time from different sides of the table."

The children quickly put their shoes back on and the girls straightened out their dresses. Each one of them took turns of coming out from under their secret hiding place so, the grown- ups would not find out what they were doing. There would be too many questions that none of them felt like answering. Dozens of servers came out with trays filled with every kind of food imaginable; salad, soup, turkey, ham, bread, fruit, and even Muggle things like pizza, cheeseburgers, and hotdogs.

Rose went and stood by Draco since, all the other children were standing by their parents waiting to be seated according to the seating chart. She was awestruck at the amount of food there was. Often times, at her party, her mother would have to run and get more food at the nearest fast food place.

As it just so happens, Malfoy, Nott, and Zabini families were sitting together at a table. The children were all excited that they were able to talk to each other but, there was awkward tension in the air between the adults. Blaise was glaring at Draco for not telling him about Rose. Pansy was irritated at Draco because, he wouldn't say who Rose's mother was. Theodore was mad at Blaise and Mrs. Zabini for making fun of TJ's weight several months before and, he still hadn't gotten over it. Draco was pissed off at everyone and, Narcissa sat there amused at the whole situation. After all, Pansy was the one who arranged the seating chart; the least she could do was put people who weren't having problems with each other together.

Draco picked at his food and watched all the other adults, besides for Theodore and Pansy, do the same thing. He honestly wished this party would hurry up; it was nothing compared to a Malfoy party. He didn't understand why Blaise was still holding a grudge. They were supposed to be best mates and, respect each other's choices. It's not like he had a choice when Hermione decided not to tell him about Rose. Besides, he had only known about her for a few weeks.

Narcissa stared sternly at Rose, who was shoveling food into her mouth. She definitely needed to teach her young granddaughter some proper etiquette and table manners, judging by the way the Nott and Zabini children were using the appropriate silverware and taking small bites.

Rose, being a child, didn't see that the adults were having problems and really had to go to the bathroom. She tried to hold it but, knew she couldn't.

"Daddy, Daddy," Rose said tugging on Draco's shirt jacket. "I have to go to the bathroom!"

"You have got to be kidding me. Seriously Rose? Why didn't you go before dinner? Just hold it now,"

"I can't! I have to go now!" Rose shouted. The whole ballroom suddenly became quiet and everyone stared at her. Pansy and Theodore started laughing hysterically and Draco became red in the face.

"Fine," Draco sighed extremely annoyed and embarrassed. He grabbed her by the back of her dress and dragged her into the bathroom.

Rose locked the door and started crying as she was sitting on the toilet. She didn't know why he was mad at her. She did not do anything wrong. She just had to go to the bathroom. Obviously, he had to go sometimes, too. Maybe he wanted her to go back to Mummy's house so, he didn't have to see her anymore. Was he going to hurt her like Ron did? Rose didn't think he would but, she didn't think Ron would hurt her either; look how wrong she was.

"Rose come on! You have been in there for ten minutes," he said and jiggled the door handle.

"I'm not going to! Call, Mummy! I want to go home!" Rose shouted. Draco could tell she was crying.

"You are coming home with me tonight, not to your mother's house. Get out of the bathroom, Rose. Be a big girl and stop crying," Draco said.

"I want to go to Mummy's house! You don't love me anymore!"

Draco unlocked the door with his wand and found Rose sitting on the floor crying. He sat down next to her and patted her back. "Rose, stop crying. I love you more than anything else in this world.

Rose lifted her head up and looked into his identical stormy eyes, "Even more than magic?"

"Of course, even more than magic," Draco said soothingly. "You are the best thing that has ever happened to me. After everything I have done, I was lucky enough to have a daughter as sweet and cute like you." _I don't deserve you…_

O.o.O

**Sorry it's super short and I have not updated in a while. I have been having a rough couple of weeks in school and I got a horrible writers block. I thought I would post what I had.**


	16. The Trial

Hermione held her breath and Harry grabbed her hand. "It will be ok, Mione." Hermione nodded and brushed a stray curl out of her face.

"All rise to the court case of Ronald Bilius Weasley who has chosen to be innocent of abusing four year old Rose Weasley. Will the witness come to the stand," the judge said.

A hesitant Pinksy walked up to the witness stand (The Malfoys allowed her to come and tell what happened the night Rose was abused). She sat on the chair and trembled. Her eyes were watery and, she kept wiping her nose.

"What were you doing the afternoon, Rose was attacked?" Ron's lawyer asked her.

"Well, I was bickering with Master Draco. He's always telling me to go away but, Pinksy knows she had to get Master Malfoy's approval to leave the house to save the young Mistress. Pinksy heard young Mistress call for anyone's help. You sees, as long as the young Mistress didn't call for anyone directly, Pinksy could come sir since, Master Draco forbade it," the house elf said.

"Why did Draco Malfoy, forbid you to go?"

"Objection your Honor, this has nothing to do with the case," Rose's lawyer said. The judge hit his hammer on the table.

"What did you find when you got to the Weasley's house?" Ron's lawyer said and asked another question.

"Mr. Weasley was standing over the young Mistress with a knife and Pinksy snaps her fingers and makes it disappears. She makes the bottle of Firewhiskey smash on his head and the Mr. Weasley falls and passes out. The young Mistress was hurt real bad and was crying; there were nasty cuts and blood was everywhere. Pinksy apparated to St. Mungo's with the young Mistress cause she didn't know what else to do," Pinksy said and fiddled with her fingers.

"Alright, Ronald Weasley will you please tell us your side of the story," the Head Wizengamot said.

Ron looked pissed off and glared at Hermione before he spoke. "Yeah, well, you see I am a respectable man and, a respectable man wouldn't do something like that for any reason. I was happily married to my _wife_, Hermione. We had a sweet little girl named Rose. Everything was picture perfect, until my stupid wife had to take it all away from me. I just had a few drinks that was all and saw the article questioning my _daughter's_ paternity. Would you not flip out, as well?"

"Why would you try to kill your daughter for seeing a newspaper article? Why not ask your wife what she thought about it?" Rose's lawyer said.

"What would you think the chance of my wife telling me the truth would be? My wife is a liar and, how would I know if she was lying or not? I was drunk of my arse and the stupid little bitch was annoying the hell out of me. I had to take matters into my own hands," Ron said.

Hermione let out a strangled gasp. She couldn't believe how his love for Rose was extinguished already. How could someone hold a grudge on a little girl that they loved so much? She was also mad that he had called her a liar. Yes, she did lie technically but, was it really lying if he had never asked if Rose was really his in the first place? She had never blatantly lied about anything else. Ginny put an arm on her shoulder and Harry squeezed her hand tighter. How had she gotten so lucky to have friends like them?

O.o.O

"What did you do, Daddy?" Rose asked innocently, scooting closer to Draco.

Draco hesitated. Rose's big silver eyes stared at him expectantly. "I- Well, when I was younger I used to be a very mean person. I was never happy so, I made the rest of the kids miserable. When I started growing up I made some really bad choices and a lot of mistakes. I hurt a lot of people, Rose."

"Did you hurt Mummy? Is that why you didn't know about me?" Rose asked. She nuzzled his chest.

"Rose… Yes, I suppose I did hurt her and she didn't trust me enough," Draco said and hugged Rose tight to him.

"Are you sorry?"

"Of course I'm sorry, Rose. If I could go back in time and change the way I acted, I would. But, I can't," Draco said.

Rose nodded understanding. "Do you think you and Mummy will start being nice to each other?"

"I don't know. Let's not talk about that right now, ok?"

Rose rolled her eyes, "Ok."

"How about we go back to the party? We have been in here for a long time and, maybe cake is ready."

Draco held Rose's hand as they exited the bathroom. Everyone's eyes were on them as they walked back to the table and sat down. Draco helped Rose onto her chair in between Narcissa and him.

"Here, Rose. You can have my cake; I saved it just for you. We don't want to make a bigger scene than we already are," Narcissa said. She passed the piece of the pink birthday cake towards Rose who started eating it greedily.

O.o.O

The party was going to end soon so, the Malfoys got ready to leave. Draco transfigured Rose's party dress into black leggings and an emerald green North Face jacket so, she would be more comfortable. As they were about to Apparate, a very angry looking Blaise Zabini grabbed Draco by his shirt collar.

"Malfoy, so you think you could ignore everyone and, just waltz out of here still ignoring everyone? We were supposed to be best mates! Why didn't you tell me you were lounging around with Granger?" Blaise shouted angrily. Rose clutched Draco's leg nervously.

"Stop, Blaise. You are scaring my daughter," Draco said patting Rose's head affectionately.

"I can't believe it! You aren't even denying it! I covered for you in the _Daily Prophet_!" Blaise shouted.

"What's to deny? If you must know Hermione is the mother of my daughter. How you found out is beyond me but, if you don't mind, could you stop yelling? You are making a scene," Draco said looking around. A few curious eyes were on him and Blaise. Blaise looked like he was going to explode.

"Just so you know, I couldn't have told you anyways. I only found out about her a few weeks ago. You know how I found out for real? I was called by St. Mungo's and, she was nearly dead. These past few weeks have been the best and worst for me. Hermione has been fighting to keep me out of her life until now," Draco whispered fiercely.

"Oh, frickin' Merlin I'm sorry. I was being stupid. That's why you wanted to know Hermione's address,"

"Yes, that was one reason. Now if you will excuse us," Draco said and Apparated with Rose. Narcissa followed behind.

Draco was in a very bad mood when they got home. He angrily walked into his bedroom and threw some of his stuff, to blow off steam. Everything had to be so hard for him. All his life, he wished things would get easier but, things only got harder for him throughout the years. He decided to take a steaming hot shower to calm his troubled mind.

When he got out of the shower he put on some black silk boxers and looked at his reflection in the mirror. He stared at himself and put his hands on his head, thinking of how terrible of a person he was. After some moments, he exited the bathroom and sat on his bed.

"Boo!" Rose said and her head popped up out of the covers. Draco jumped.

"I scared you!" Rose sang and giggled. Draco looked amused and a little embarrassed he would be scared of a four year old jumping out of the bed covers.

"Scaredy cat! Scaredy cat!" Rose shouted jumping on the bed. Her platinum curls bounced up and down crazily. "I really scared you!"

"Ok, that's enough Rose. It's not funny anymore," Draco said irritated. She kept jumping on the bed, giggling, and saying "scaredy cat," not listening to her father at all.

"Rose, seriously, stop!" Draco shouted. Rose stopped jumping and, her lip started trembling.

"Rose, don't cry. I'm sorry, ok? Come here," He said in a soothing voice. Rose stuck out her tongue at him and edged away.

He grabbed her and started tickling her. She shrieked with laughter. "Stop!" she giggled. He stopped and caressed her cheek.

"Daddy?" Rose asked looking at him oddly.

"What, Rose?" Draco said.

"What's that?" She said and crawled into his lap. She was pointing to the bottom of his arm.

Draco turned over his arm and, shivered when she touched it. It was the Dark Mark, which marked him as a Death Eater. He had almost forgotten it was there, until she pointed it out.

He remembered the day it was forced upon him. It was worse than being branded with a hot iron. Pain blinded him as he struggled not to pass out. He could hear laughter as he staggered backwards, nearly falling over. He remembered thinking that getting _Crucioed_ was less painful than that.

"Daddy? Why did you get a tattoo? Mummy says boys with tattoos are weirdos. I don't think you are a weirdo though," Rose said. Draco shook his head coming out of the memory of the worst day of his life.

"Well, I didn't want to get a tattoo but, a bad man forced me to get it. I think I was much worse than a weirdo when I first got it,"

"I don't think you were a bad person, Daddy. I think you are nice," she said and hugged him and yawned.

"I think it's time for you to go to bed," Draco said getting up off the bed, carrying her.

He walked to her bedroom (the room next door) and tucked her into the bed, pulling the covers up to her neck. He kissed the top of her head and, turned around to leave the room.

"Daddy, do you think that maybe Mummy will want us to be a family someday? Then, she can see my room and we can live here together," she said as he started to leave.

O.o.O

"So, you decided to try to kill your daughter because she was annoying you?" Rose's lawyer pressed.

"Well, let's make everything clear, Rose is not my daughter and, she never was. She's probably out with her real father buying everything in England. But, on that note yes, I wanted her gone. I never meant to kill or harm her. I don't think I was right in the head from consuming all that Firewhiskey. Honestly, I didn't think hitting her once would turn into something like that," Ron said trying to make it seem like he wasn't in his right mind.

"What are you saying? Rose is not your daughter?" someone from the crowd called out.

"Order in the court! If any audience member speaks out again they will be escorted out," the judge said, hitting his hammer on the desk. "Let the court take a recess break and let the jury decide. Please pass up the evidence of Rose Weasley's abuse."

Rose's lawyer gave a packet to the Head Wizengamot filled with pictures of Rose from the day Ron abused her.

The people filed out of the court room and bombarded Harry and Hermione with questions about Rose. They went into a private room with their families to wait until the verdict was reached to get away from the crowd.

"Harry what the hell am I going to do?" Hermione shouted and paced around the room. "The whole world is going to know the truth about Rose in a matter of hours, if even that!"

"Calm down, Mione. It's not like he said who her father was. Besides, who cares if Malfoy is her father? With this stunt, everyone is going to hate Ron when they find out what he was put on trial for. They aren't going to feel sorry that you didn't tell him," Harry said trying to reassure her. He personally thought it would be better if the world never found out who Rose's real father was.

"Mione, don't worry. Everything will turn out ok in the end; it always does. Just be happy that Rose is safe and Draco loves her. Maybe, you can start over and, do the things you wanted before marrying Ron. I know you rushed into the marriage, putting everyone before yourself," Ginny said.

"Gin, how can you possibly be ok with everything that has happened? Ron is your brother! You should hate me!" Hermione exclaimed and continued to pace.

"Would you hate me if I were in your situation?" Ginny asked. Hermione shook her head. "We have been friends for over ten years. I don't care if Ron is my brother. I have always thought he was an idiot anyways,"

"Oh Gin… Harry… I just don't know what to do!" Hermione said, sat down dramatically on a chair and covered her face with her hands.

They remained quiet for the rest of the court recess, until they were called back into the courtroom.

Hermione's stomach felt as if it was going up her throat. Harry and Ginny were both squeezing her hands. She nearly jumped out of her seat when the judge spoke:

"Everyone please be seated to hear the verdict! The Head Wizengamot judge said. "The jury has come to the conclusion that Ronald Bilius Weasley will be sent to St. Mungo's for treatment Monday through Friday and, will be sent to Azkaban on the weekends."


	17. Dolls

"Ronald Weasley, you may have ten minutes to talk with your friends and family before you start your rehabilitation," the Head Wizengamot judge said.

A few Aurors escorted Hermione, the Potters, and Ron into a private room and stood guard at the doors to make sure Ron would not escape. They each took a seat at a rectangle table in the center of the small room (Ginny, Harry, and Hermione at one side; Ron on the other side of the table) and stared at each other with mixed emotion.

"Ronald Weasley you are a disgrace to our family and, I hope you are miserable for the rest of your life! I cannot believe you got that mild of a sentence! If I were the judge I would sentence you to the Dementor's Kiss and, I am your sister for Merlin's sake! If you were concerned you should have talked to Mione. I know things wouldn't have gone any better but, at least you could still be a family with all of us. I am definitely not going to take time out of my day to visit you at St. Mungo's or Azkaban because you hurt an innocent little girl! I was partially sympathetic for you but, now? Not so much! You showed at this trial you have no sorrow for hurting Rose. She was your daughter, Ron! Your love should not have changed for her!" Ginny shouted taking the first initiative to speak to Ron. His stone like expression didn't falter.

"Ron, what happened to fighting evil? There is no reason to harm the innocent. I thought the Golden Trio was supposed to do good things for the world. I'm not so sure what it means to you, anymore," Harry said calmly, standing up. Ginny mirrored his movements. "I think that's all we have to say to you. Mione we will be in the hall."

Hermione pleaded with her eyes for them to stay but, Harry gave her a look of encouragement; she needed to talk to Ron alone.

"So, how has Malfoy been, Mione? Yeah, I bet he is really swell; especially when he calls you a Mudblood and doesn't really care about you. Where's Rose? Got her reacquainted with him, did you? Well, I suppose it makes sense. All Malfoys are stupid arses, just like her," Ron said and laughed maniacally. It took all of Hermione's resolve not to strangle him.

"If you must know Ronald he has been very considerate and caring towards Rose. As a matter of fact, you are right; she is with him right now. You know what? He has been a better father towards her than you have ever been to her," she said just to push his buttons. "If stupid arses mean not child abusers that I hope Rose grows up to be the biggest arse ever. You would do well to learn from the Malfoys, then."

"You bitch! I can't believe I ever liked you, Hermione! You just have to flaunt that you had Draco Malfoy's kid. You and him were probably planning this from the beginning to get me put away!"

"I wasn't the one who begged you to marry me, for the baby to be well supported. You have not supported Rose with anything- not financially, physically, love, kindness," Hermione said getting mad.

"Well not anymore. I have already gotten a divorce from you," Ron said slyly.

"How? I haven't signed anything," Hermione said confused.

"Let's just say I'm a Pureblood, Mione. There are some people who don't believe in Pureblood Mudblood relationships and pulled a few strings for me," Ron said and chuckled. Hermione's mouth dropped open.

A guard came in and said it was time for Hermione to go; the ten minutes were up. It took all of her willpower to get up from the chair and walk towards the door. Before Hermione left the room Ron called out:

"Oh, Mione you have two days to get out of the house. It has my name on the deed so, you cannot live there anymore. Have a nice life!"

O.o.O

Hermione went home as fast as she could and looked around the house. She couldn't believe she was an unmarried woman and, she would have to give up everything she knew. As she went around shrinking all of the furniture and putting it into a suitcase, tears spilled down her cheeks. She had no money to buy or rent a house. Ron had taken all of the money in her account (she noticed when she went to see if she could afford to buy an apartment) and, she had no means of surviving. Rose would be devastated when she found out what happened to their house (or at least she hoped Rose would be).

Hermione called her mother and told them about her sudden divorce from Ron, but didn't go into any details. She said it would be fine for her and Rose to live with them until, she could get back on her feet. Mione was thankful she had kind and loving parents, who accepted her for who she was. They didn't try to press on any issues and, were proud of her for being a wizard. That was all Hermione could ask for.

When Hermione was done packing and making living arrangements she went to pick up Rose at Draco's house the next morning.

As she stood at the front door waiting for it to be opened, she couldn't help but feel sorry for herself. What had she deserved to get kicked out of her tiny home? The Malfoy's had a house one hundred times the size of hers and, they still weren't content with it. She was perfectly fine with where she lived. She wished she could switch places with Draco so, she could make the most out of being insanely rich; giving to people in need, helping everyone, ect. But, she couldn't and that was life. Life is never fair.

A house elf she didn't recognize led her into a room that she assumed that was supposed to be the family room. Draco was watching Quidditch on his wizard television and Rose was playing with a live puppy on the floor. When Rose saw Hermione she smiled and ran up to her.

"Mummy! Mummy! Look, look! Daddy got me a puppy!" She said pointing to the little Dalmatian on the floor. "She was just here when I woke up today! He said I can take it home with me!"

Hermione looked livid. She shook her head, "I'm sorry sweetie. You can't take that puppy home."

"Why Mummy? Please, please, please? Please!" Rose begged. Tears started to form in her sparkly silver eyes, when she noticed her mother wasn't joking.

"Rose, we are going to live with Gramma Jean and Grandpa David for a little while. Gramma Jean is really allergic to dogs so, I'm sorry Rose. The puppy stays here." Hermione said. Draco eyed her with a look of confusion.

"Why are we going to live with Gramma Jean and Grandpa David?" Rose shouted, clearly upset. "I don't want to live with them!"

"We just are, Rose. Please don't argue," Hermione said grabbing Rose's pink backpack off of the floor.

"Why Mummy? Why, why, why, why?! I don't want to live with them! Their house smells weird and, the pictures don't move!" Rose protested. "Why can't we just go back to the house we lived in?"

"We don't own that house anymore and, we need a place to stay. We can't afford to get a new house somewhere. Gramma Jean said we could stay with them until, we can rent an apartment," Hermione said, not meeting Draco's eyes.

The little gears started turning in Rose's head as she contemplated the situation. Soon, her face broke out into a big grin, "Mummy can't you live here with me and Daddy? You can share my room 'cause it's big enough! Then, we can be a family together and live happily ever after!"

Hermione and Draco looked uncomfortable. Hermione shook her head and grabbed Rose's wrist. "Thanks for watching her, Malfoy," she said. Without warning, she apparated to her parent's house with Rose.

O.o.O

Rose started crying as soon as they got into Hermione's parent's house. She was extremely upset. Hermione tried to calm her down but, it was no use.

"Mummy, why can't we live with Daddy?! Please! I will call him for you!" Rose shouted. She dramatically collapsed on the floor and started thrashing around. She beat her little fists on the floor and cried.

"Good heavens, what is wrong with her, Hermione?" Jean Granger said, as she rushed into the room to see what the commotion was. Rose was throwing one of the worst temper tantrums her grandmother had ever seen.

"Nothing, she is just being difficult today," Hermione sighed, looking at her mother. Jean put a hand on her daughters shoulder and gently squeezed it, in a comforting sort of way. "She is just taking the news about the house badly. I'm sure it will pass within the next few days."

"Yes…" Jean said uncertainly and motioned for Hermione to follow her up the stairs to see where she would be staying for the next couple of months. Hermione followed her mother up the white, plush carpeted stairs, leaving Rose to throw a fit by herself.

Once, Rose realized her attempts at getting Hermione to reconsider the decision to stay with her grandparents were futile, she stopped crying and sulked in the corner. She missed being at Draco's house; she missed how she got everything, how much affection his family showed her (it wasn't that Hermione didn't but, the Malfoy's doted on her and, always made sure she was happy), and how she truly felt content; like she actually belonged in the family for once.

She could hear her mother and grandma talking and laughing upstairs and realized that they had probably forgotten about her. Sighing, she pulled three dolls from her pink back pack; a man with blond hair, a woman with curly brown hair, and a little girl doll with curly blonde hair. Rose hugged the dolls, before setting them up in a fashion where the little girl doll was in between the two parent dolls. All three of the dolls looked happy and content with each other; much like how Harry and Ginny's family looked. She thought her Mummy and Daddy had to have looked like the dolls at one time so, they could look like them again. All she had to do was figure something out that would get them happy together, again. Just actually, figuring out a plan proved to be harder than she thought it would be. She thought that maybe she could call Draco on her new phone in her backpack pocket. After hours of reading the manual he finally figured out to program his house phone number into her phone. She didn't know what to say though or, really how to use it.

Rose was so absorbed in trying to think of something that would make it possible for her and Hermione to live with the Malfoys, she didn't hear her mother come down the stairs.

"Oh good, you stopped crying Rosie," Hermione said putting a purple hoodie on. "We are going out to dinner so, you better be a good little girl."

Rose rolled her silver eyes. Jean stuffed her head in a pink faded hoodie that looked like it was one hundred years old and, she looked as if she was going to cry.

"This was Mione's jacket when she was about your age," Jean said and smiled. She started tearing up and sniffling. Hermione gave her mother a box of tissues from a shelf nearby. Rose tried to rip the hoodie off of her but, Hermione looked at her sternly and shook her head.

Rose grabbed her backpack and crossed her arms the whole ride to the restaurant. When they got there she didn't say a word to anyone.

"Look Rosie, it's your favorite restaurant, Olive Garden!" David Granger said enthusiastically. Rose ignored him and continued to sulk. She had never been to Olive Garden anyways.

Rose had never been more embarrassed in her whole life. It wasn't an awfully fancy restaurant but, people were wearing nice casual clothing. Her family was wearing old faded hoodies, ripped jeans, and in Grandpa David's cases a white t-shirt with a huge yellow stain on the front and an old cowboy hat. Jean, Hermione, and David were belting out verses of old 80's rock songs and laughing so hard that they caused the table to shake. People at the other tables were staring and she had even heard some families ask to move away from them; others had commented on how the little girl was acting more mature than the three adults, who should probably lay off the wine.

She had finally decided that she had enough of her grandparents. Quietly, she grabbed the full basket of breadsticks, stuffed them into her backpack, and slipped off the chair. She quickly left the restaurant without being spotted by any of the staff and ran down the street, until she couldn't go any further.

Tired and out of breath, Rose walked into a Starbucks Coffee Shop and sat down at one of the tables. Older people sipping coffee and typing on computers stared at her and, wondered where her parents were. She pulled out the iPhone and typed D into the contacts bar. Only one name came up so, it must have been her father. After several rings Draco finally answered.

Rose started crying into the phone when he spoke, "I don't wanna live with Gramma Jean an- and Grandpa David! Please come get me! I left Mummy and ran a- away!" Draco told her to stay where she was and, he was coming to get her.

Several minutes later Draco showed up at the Starbucks Rose was at. He took a seat across from her. She stared at him, not knowing what to say.

"Mummy is probably looking for you," Draco stated over their awkward silence. "You shouldn't have done that."

"I don't care. Mummy never cares about what I want! I said I didn't like it at Gramma and Grandpa Jean's house. She didn't listen to me," Rose whined taking off the ugly hoodie. Draco just gazed at her, amused at her opinions. "If you are going to tell her can you wait until tomorrow? She is going to be mad at me."

"Yes, I suppose so. Come on, lets go home," Draco said happily taking Rose's hand.

Rose looked up at him and smiled as they walked out of the coffee shop. The only thing that was missing was her mother's hand in her empty one, smiling along with them.

O.o.O

Hermione panicked when she noticed Rose was gone. Jean and David tried to comfort her and ask all the employees if they had seen Rose. None of them had. They left Hermione by herself to try and search for Rose.

Hermione looked under the table and started crying. Why did Rose have to leave? Where was her daughter? She paced around the table several times before looking at the place Rose was sitting at.

On the chair, there were three dolls; a blonde Daddy doll, a brown curly haired Mummy doll, and a blonde curly haired little girl; all of them holding hands and smiling, without a care in the world.

O.o.O

**If I posted a Dance Academy story, mainly about Abigail, would anyone read it?**


	18. The Fountain and The Pool

Hermione showed up at Draco's house with steam coming out of her ears. The fact that Rose had ran away had nothing to do with the rage she felt for Draco not telling her the second he found out what she had done. Her parents were still looking for Rose but, once she found the dolls she knew that Rose went to go find her father.

When the house elf opened the door, Hermione barged in, practically knocking the frightened elf over. She stomped into the living room but, Draco wasn't there. Fuming, she turned to see the house elf, that had answered the door cower in fear.

"Take me to Draco Malfoy," Hermione said, almost to the point of screaming. The frightened house elf beckoned her to follow him. She suddenly felt bad for treating the poor elf, like trash as she followed him down the countless hallways.

The elf opened a huge set of French doors to a magnificent layered brick patio, complete with a luxurious dining pavilion. It looked out to a large water park and a real Quidditch stadium. Hermione was in awe and her angriness faded momentarily. The Malfoys truly did have everything; even though they always wanted more.

"Miss Hermione? Would you like me to take you to Master Draco, now?" the house elf said. Hermione came out of her awestruck trance and rage consumed her mind, again. She nodded fiercely and, the elf started leading her to the main water park pool.

O.o.O

Draco was lying in a lounge chair on the side of the main waterpark, reading the _Daily Prophet Night Edition_. He couldn't believe it had printed what happened an hour ago that quickly. He assumed he would have at least one more day to contemplate the situation and figure out what he was going to do, before telling Hermione. Soon, he found himself thinking about the previous events that had happened that day.

As soon as he and Rose left the coffee shop he apparated to the Ministry of Magic to pick up a new monitoring device, for his father, at the Auror's office. He did this twice a month so, they could be sure Lucius wasn't trying to weaken the device that was already placed on him to ensure he was not leaving the house. Before Rose had called him, he was going to go there anyways so, he just decided to bring her along.

Rose looked at the rebuilt Fountain of Magical Brethren in wonder and begged Draco to let her make a wish in the fountain. Draco gave her a handful of gold Galleons to throw into it. A group of younger wizards, who had probably just graduated from Hogwarts applying for jobs, looked at the pile of Galleons in Rose's hand and gasped when she started throwing them in. Draco ignored them and thought it would be funny to give her another handful just to watch their horror filled expressions. Although, he didn't because it was taking her an awful long time to throw them all in and, he wanted to get what he came for and go home.

"Come on Rose, hurry up," Draco whined, looking at his gold watch. At the rate Rose was throwing the money in the fountain, he would be there all day.

"I don't know what to wish for," Rose said, looking at the last few Galleons in her hand. "You can't wish for the same thing twice in one fountain, or it won't come true."

Draco had never heard that before. "Well, how about you save them for later, and if you think of something you can throw them in before we go."

Rose nodded and handed the money back to Draco. He put it in his pocket and grabbed her hand, leading her to the elevator.

"I want to push the button," Rose said. Draco pointed to the one that led to the Auror's office and Rose pushed that button.

When the elevator doors opened, there were cameras and crowds of people flocking the courtroom entrance. Draco maneuvered him and Rose around the people and into the Auror's office, which was more crowded than usual.

"Draco!" Blaise called to him as he walked into the door. "Come to get your father's house arrest device?"

People stared at him in loathing for being part of Voldemort's side and in annoyance that he got to cut everyone in line or waiting. "Yeah, thanks, Blaise."

Blaise went into a room behind and came back with a box. "Here ya go mate. It's been a crazy two days with the Weasley trail and all."

"What did that imbecile get?" Draco asked, shrinking the box and putting it in his jacket pocket. Hermione never told him what the outcome of the trial was.

"Oh, it's so stupid, and you are probably going to flip. He goes for rehabilitation at St. Mungos on weekdays and to Azkaban on the weekends. Apparently, the judge was a Pureblood idiot and was going to let him go free but, the jury was sympathetic towards Rose. They are transporting him to St. Mungos today. That's why there are so many people here." Blaise said. He handed Rose a watermelon lollipop. She pulled off the wrapper and started licking it.

"Figures. Well, at least he didn't go free," Draco said, picking up his daughter and holding her close. "Sorry, Blaise I have to run. You know how Mum gets, when I take too long."

Blaise chuckled knowing exactly how Narcissa Malfoy got when she didn't know where her son was. "Bye, Draco."

Draco left the office, holding Rose. Dozens of cameras flashed in his face and, he didn't know what was going on. Rose squeezed her eyes shut and, kept licking her lollipop. All of people shouted out questions but, it was too loud to hear any of them properly.

A group of Aurors holding Ron Weasley pushed through the crowd. Ron's face contorted in rage when he saw Draco and Rose. "I'm going to kill you, Draco Malfoy, for taking everything away from me; even if it's the last thing I ever do!" Ron shouted, trying to fight off the Aurors holding him. Rose started crying and snuggled her head into Draco's chest. "You filthy son of a bitch! I will kill your little spawn, Rose, for real, too!" The Aurors silenced him with their wands and pushed him inside the elevator. The crowds of people took more pictures of Draco and Rose before they apparated away.

O.o.O

A large black shadow hovered over Draco. He looked up from the paper and tilted his sunglasses down. Hermione was standing in front of him, with her arms crossed, looking pissed.

"You are blocking the sun," Draco said, looking back at the newspaper rolling his eyes, trying to tick her off. Hermione ripped the newspaper out of his hands and threw it on a little table next to him. Smoke was coming out of her ears.

"Draco Malfoy, you irresponsible little ferret! How could you not tell me Rose ran away and you had her?! I was freaking out and my parents are still looking for her! Did it ever cross your puny little mind that I would be worried sick about her?! No, you didn't care because you got what you wanted by not telling me Rose was with you. I can't believe you would stoop so low! Where the hell is she? Great, you don't even know where she is right now. She could be drowning in the pool by now, while you sit on your happy little arse!" Hermione screamed, pacing.

Draco was amused that Hermione still had the same hot headed temper she had back at Hogwarts. Some things never change. "Hermione, gosh calm down! Rose is inside, in her room, playing a board game with my mother. If she was out here, the house elves would be watching her so, you wouldn't have even had to be worried, anyways. I was going to tell you she was with me tomorrow."

"Wow, I am so relieved I would have found out what happened to my daughter twenty four hours after she went missing," Hermione said sarcastically. "My parents were so, happy they would get to spend time with their granddaughter tonight but, now they are just praying she is going to come home safely!"

Hermione paced around the edge of the pool, muttering to herself. Draco wondered if she did that often, when she was mad and overwhelmed.

"Come, live here at the Manor with me," He called to Hermione.

"What?! Why would I want to do that?" Hermione said turning to face him. She started laughing. "Good one, Malfoy!"

"Why not? Rose doesn't like it at your parent's house; I can't blame her. You could have your own room next to Rose's and remodel if you don't like it. Besides, it's not like you have anywhere else to go." Hermione started laughing again and backed up close to the edge of the pool. "Stop backing up, Hermione; you are going to fall into the pool."

"Is there something wrong with you today? We are not in school anymore, Malfoy. I am not going to fall for your games any-" Hemione's words were cut off by a loud splash as she fell into the warm water of the pool. She got out of the pool and started shivering as the wind blew over her soaking wet body.

"I told you not to back up any farther. It's not warm enough to go swimming," Draco said, chuckling as he cast a drying spell over Hermione. "And I'm not playing games with you, Hermione. I was serious. You and Rose can live here, forever, just until you can get back on your feet, cash the check I gave Rose, I don't care."

"Why are you suddenly being nice to me- and don't you dare say you have feelings for me because I know you would be lying,"

"Maybe I do…" Draco said mysteriously. Hermione rolled her chocolate eyes. "Look, Hermione, you are the mother of my child and I don't want you two to be unhappy living at your Muggle parent's house. Rose deserves the best and, you can give it to her by accepting to live here at the Manor."

"You just don't like the fact that your daughter is living with Muggles," Hermione said, putting her hands on her hips.

"You are right, I don't like it but, I don't really care about that as much. I just want Rose to be happy." Draco said, "That and you probably don't want to go to any wizard place anytime soon, unless you want people to stare and ask you lots of uncomfortable personal questions," He added speaking quietly and fast.

"What the hell are you talking about?" Hermione asked. He handed her the _Daily Prophet_ from the little table. There was a picture of Draco holding Rose, while she licked a lollipop. The article read:

**The Perfect Little Imperfection in the Malfoy Pureblood Line**

By: Rita Skeeter

_Today, the Pureblood reign of the Malfoys comes to a drastic close. Rose Weasley (or shall we say Malfoy?) has always been a subject of a paternity issue all her life. Ronald Weasley says, "Yeah, I thought she was my daughter until, my ex-wife told me the truth right when I was about to get locked up." It seems like Hermione Weasley and Draco Malfoy has kept their precious little daughter a secret for a long time, and have been seeing each other since she has been born. I am not surprised, however. Miss Weasley, who got a sudden divorce from her husband Ronald, has pursued the famous Harry Potter and Viktor Krum, the Bulgarian Seeker. Many people have said she has tried to go out with the whole male student population in her year at Hogwarts. It was only a matter of time that she wanted the notorious rich bad boy Draco Malfoy. Mr. Malfoy and Miss Weasley were unavailable for comment._

Hermione stared at the ground for a long time. Half of it wasn't true, of course, but not everyone knew that. Now the whole Wizard population would know the secret she had been so desperate to hide; she wasn't ready for that to happen. She wanted to tell everyone on her own time. Tears started pouring down her eyes. Now she realized what Draco had meant. Everyone would think she was a slut. She tried to wipe the tears away but, she just kept crying harder.

Draco came over to her and hugged her, "If it's anyone's fault, Mione, it's mine. I know most of it's not true, anyways. I'm sorry for everything…"

"Don't be," Hermione said, hugging him back. "If you weren't there to save me from Filch that night, Rose would have never been born."

"So will you stay here?" Draco asked wiping Hermione's tears off her cheeks.

"Do I have any other options?" Hermione said and smiled.

O.o.O

Narcissa was teaching Rose how to play Wizards Chess, in Rose's room. She told Draco she would watch her so she could have a bit of time with her granddaughter by herself, without him. Rose was having a bit of trouble at first and was getting frustrated quickly, because Narcissa kept taking all of her players.

"I don't want to play anymore Gramma Cissa! Can we do something else?" Rose whined after she had lost the third game.

Narcissa chuckled lightly, "Of course, dear. Don't get too discouraged, you are just learning. Nobody wins the first couple of times they play. When I was a young girl I never won games but, when you grow up everyone wins at least once."

"What if I don't win, ever?" Rose said.

"You will, it just takes practice." Narcissa said as Rose started setting up a tea party set.

"Your tea is served Miss," Rose said and giggled as she gave Narcissa a plastic teacup. Narcissa smiled and waved her wand. The little teacups and teapot filled with apple juice. Rose practically jumped up and down. She was so happy she didn't have to pretend to drink from the cups. Hermione had always told her it would be too messy if she used real liquid in the cups.

"Why, thank you Miss Rose," Narcissa said and stuck up her pinky finger as she sipped the apple juice from the cup. "How about you open the balcony door to let some fresh air in?"

Rose scampered to the door and opened it. She had never been on a balcony before and wanted to try it out. She ran to the edge and looked down in between the marble posts of the railing. She saw Draco and Hermione standing there. Her mother looked sad and looked like she was crying. Draco came up and hugged Hermione and she hugged him back. They were smiling and looked happy.

Rose ran back inside her room grinning ear to ear, "Come on Gramma Cissa you need to take me back to the fountain. I think maybe some of my wishes could come true soon!"


	19. It's Official

Hermione awoke the next morning, from a deep sleep. She had not slept soundly for the past week or two and, she was pleasantly surprised to find herself well rested. The silk ivory sheets were soft and warm on her legs and, for a second she forgot where she was. She had always dreamed of getting expensive sheets for her bed at home and, thinking about it made unhappy memories of Ron appear in her head.

She laid there for several minutes savoring the time she spent being comfortable and, not worrying what Malfoy would say to her. Right after he persuaded her to stay with Rose, she retreated into the bedroom that was assigned to her for the rest of the night. It would have been much too awkward to pretend like nothing ever happened between them and make herself at home. Also, she was embarrassed after the swimming pool accident and upset about what was told to everyone in the _Prophet_.

Someone, who was apparently sleeping with her, started to stir and, Hermione jumped- not knowing anyone was in the bed beside her.

"Mummy? It's too early to get up!" Rose whined as Hermione pulled down the person's covers trying to see if it was her daughter. Hermione stroked Rose's blonde curls and kissed the top of her head.

"Rose, it's nearly 11:00," Hermione said and Rose's head shot up out of the covers.

"I missed breakfast?" Rose said, a look of disappointment crossed her face.

"I'm sure Draco will let you have some type of breakfast food for lunch," Hermione said absentmindedly, starting to braid Rose's hair. Rose turned around and hugged Hermione, catching her off guard.

"I knew everything would be ok!" Rose said. "I'm happy we can stay here!"

"Sweetie, everything would have been fine, even if we lived somewhere else. I know you like it here but, I just don't know if this arrangement is going to work out. I need to go back to my job soon and, it would have been beneficial to stay at your grandparent's house so they could watch you," Hermione said.

"Daddy could watch me and we can't leave! One of my wishes came true, almost!" Rose whined. Hermione rubbed her back affectionately.

"We'll see, dear," Hermione said quietly.

Rose pouted and put her hands on her hips. She stuck out her tongue at Hermione as she slid off the side of the bed, "Mummy? Why aren't you happy here? I'm happy…" She turned around and headed out the bedroom door, slamming it as she closed it.

Hermione sighed and got up out of the bed. She unshrunk her suitcase and pulled out a pair of jeans and a t-shirt. As she got dressed her stomach growled hungrily and, she rolled her eyes hoping she could stay in the room longer.

After several minutes, she decided to leave the room to grab something to eat. Trying to remember the way downstairs, she stumbled through corridors and down staircases, getting lost in the process. Luckily, she spotted a house elf farther down the hallway.

"Excuse me, could you please tell me where the kitchen is?" Hermione called to the house elf. He turned around and smiled.

"Mistress Narcissa and Master Draco are expecting you. Follow Kixley Miss," the elf said and started walking down the corridor. Hermione followed; her heart was beating rapidly in nervousness.

It seemed like the hallway didn't last long enough. Soon, a pristine white door gleamed in front of her. The house elf opened the door and let her enter; closing it behind her. It was a lovely room. Murals of violet flowers were painted on the white walls and there was not a speck of dust on the white carpet. White lace curtains adorned the windows leading to a balcony. There was a very large china cabinet on one side of the room and a white desk with a bunch of miscellaneous women's things on it. There were two violet couches facing each other with a white coffee table in between them. Hermione assumed this was Narcissa's office or her place to get away; she had always dreamt of having her own study so she could have a little quietness to get her work reports done.

Hermione felt bad for stepping on the snow white carpet; almost feeling like someone like her didn't have the right to step into such a lovely room. "Hello?" she called, not seeing anyone in the room.

"Oh, Hermione we are out on the balcony," Narcissa Malfoy called from outside.

Hermione stepped outside and a cool breeze blew her hair backwards. She smiled at how nice it was to feel the beginning of summer again. There was a patio set on the balcony and Narcissa and Draco were sitting in two of the chairs.

"It's a lovely day, isn't it, Hermione?" Narcissa said pleasantly. Hermione shook her head slowly, uncomfortable that she was in front of two Malfoys. "Oh, do sit down. I have just asked a house elf to bring us some tea and sandwiches. I hope you are hungry."

"Oh, um, yeah, thanks," Hermione said awkwardly and took the last empty seat at the table.

Narcissa smiled softly and rose from her chair. She looked quickly at her son and back to Hermione. "Well, I hope you two have a nice conversation; I must be going. I have a hair appointment in fifteen minutes." Hermione's mouth went wide and she was about to protest but, Narcissa had already left. A house elf brought the tea and a plate of turkey sandwiches and set it on the table.

Hermione fumbled with her hands in her lap and stared at them, occasionally stealing a hungry glance at the sandwiches. Draco stared at her the entire time.

"You can eat you, know," Draco said taking a sandwich from the plate and taking a large bite out of it. Hermione reluctantly followed suit.

"So, what did you want to see me for?" Hermione asked suddenly, after taking a few bites out of her sandwich.

"Oh, well, don't freak out or anything but, Rose went to the Zabini household to play. Blaise's son has been asking about her a lot lately and he asked if she could stay with them for a few hours," Draco said. Hermione rolled her eyes.

"Why didn't you ask me if it was ok?" Hermione questioned him.

"It's not like she has anything better to do; besides, don't you want her to have friends? She is my daughter, too. I would never let her do something I didn't approve of; there is no harm in her going to spend a day with the Zabinis. But, anyways that wasn't what I wanted to talk to you about."

"Then, what did you want to say to me?" Hermione asked raising her eyebrows.

"I wanted to know, well we already talked about… what I'm trying to say is when Rose gets older she will want to know why her last name is Weasley when she isn't a Weasley. As much as you can't stand it, she is a Malfoy, Hermione. I really don't think she deserves the stress that comes if we put this off until later. I have the papers, all you have to do is sign. I'll even bring it to the Ministry of Magic myself."

"I don't know, Draco. I don't want her to be confused and, this is all going so fast. I think this matter should be left alone until she is older and can understand better," Hermione said.

"Hermione, at least if you aren't going to even consider it, ask Rose to see what she wants. She should have the choice to decide," Draco said, running his hands through his silky platinum hair.

"I don't know why this is so important to you. It's just a name," Hermione said rolling her eyes. She stood up and headed for the door.

Draco abruptly got up and ran to her side. She tried to open the door knob but he grabbed her shoulders and pushed her back against the wall. Her eyes were wide in shock.

"Malfoy is not just a name, Hermione. It's _my_ name. Rose is mine, not that pathetic Weasels; I will not let something that is mine be defected like that," Draco whispered in her ear. Chills went down Hermione's spine.

"You may be Rose's father, but she is not an object!" Hermione nearly shouted, trying to push Draco off of her.

"Now tell me, Hermione," Draco said and caressed her stomach. "Why such a girl lucky enough to carry the next Malfoy heir doesn't want her to be a Malfoy?"

"I… that has nothing to do with it," Hermione said, tingles starting to go up her body.

"Are you sure?" Draco said, leaning in and whispering into her ear.

"Of course," Hermione said gazing into his startling pools of silver eyes. She was enchanted by looking into their endless depths.

The next thing she knew his lips were on hers. His hands slid down to her waist and hers raked through his silky hair, as he deepened the kiss. In the back of her head she knew it was morally wrong but, it felt right to her. She didn't know how long they kissed, just that when he finally broke away she felt empty; as if something was missing in her life.

Draco smirked triumphantly and Hermione's cheeks went red; as she realized what had really, just happened.

"I knew you, didn't hate me, Mione," Draco said affectionately caressing her cheek. He gave her the paper and she immediately signed it.

"Rose should be home soon; I think we should go to the Ministry together," He said and smiled.

Hermione was utterly confused until she looked down at the court documents in her hands. Plain as day, was her signature changing Rose's name from Weasley to Malfoy.

O.o.O

Hermione spent over an hour contemplating if Draco had played her or not. She finally decided he wasn't because, how was he supposed to know the part of her brain that rationally thought would shut down? She didn't even think that would happen. She never thought Draco Malfoy would kiss her ever again either, but look how that turned out. She was confused at her feelings and was a little scared that she actually wanted Draco to kiss her again.

When Rose came home she crawled on her mother's lap and told Hermione all about the Zabini's house and how she played with Antonio and his sister the whole time. The house elves baked chocolate chip cookies for them and made them bowls of their favorite ice cream. They played the child's version of Exploding Snap and she won.

Hermione smiled at how happy she was; even though the Zabini children weren't the ideal play mates she would have picked out for her daughter. Rose never had any friends and it was to see she had finally made some.

Draco walked into the room and smiled at Rose and Hermione, "Come on girls. Rosie, we are going to the place with the big fountain again."

Rose jumped off Hermione's lap and hollered with glee. Hermione looked a little bit troubled. "You know what, how about you take Rose Draco? I just don't really feel like showing myself to the public if you comprehend what I'm saying."

"Since, when do you care what anyone says about you Hermione? Come on this is something we both need to experience," Draco said. His eyes pleaded at her.

"It's just a stupid name. I don't understand why it means so much to you right this second. You could have chosen any other day, week, whenever." Hermione said skeptically.

"Yeah, I could have; but I chose today," He said and smirked. Draco picked up Rose and grabbed Hermione's hand.

He Apparated them both to a court office and handed a stout wizard the signed documents. The man smiled at them both and handed Draco a new birth certificate for stating their daughter's legal name was now Rose Elizabeth Malfoy.

"Rosie, guess what?" Draco said.

"What Daddy?" She said and smiled, licking an orange lollipop the wizard at the desk had given her.

"Your name is now Rose Malfoy,"

"Really?!" A huge smile appeared on her face. She wiggled out of Draco's arms and ran to her mother's. She gave Hermione a big hug and kissed her cheek.

"Thank you, Mummy!" Rose squealed. Hermione smiled. "Daddy said you wouldn't sign the papers, but you did!" Hermione rolled her eyes at Draco, wondering when that came up in their conversation together.

"Yes, so now it's official," Draco said, happily gazing at Rose.

"Yes, I suppose it's now official," Hermione said, masking all emotions.

"Stop being so dumpy, Mummy!" Rose chastised her mother. "Daddy said that he has a surprise for us, and you have to be happy."

"Did, he now?" Hermione said frowning.

"This needs a cause for a celebration," Draco said. He transfigured Hermione's Muggle clothing into a beautiful blue gown; not even bothering with Rose and his clothes because they were already fancy enough.

Hermione blinked several times and was about to protest when Draco, yet again, Apparated them both again.

O.o.O

They all arrived at a fancy wizard restaurant. The host took one look at Draco Malfoy and immediately told someone to go seat them in the V.I.P section. Hermione assumed the Malfoy's were special customers.

As the waitress was getting them all drinks, Hermione looked at the menu. Her eyes went wide and she gulped at the exceedingly high prices of the food. She didn't know how she was supposed to pay for Rose's kids meal, let alone anything for her.

Noticing Hermione's distress, Draco responded to her troubled mind, "Pick out anything you want, I am going to pay, Hermione."

"Draco… I just don't feel right about you doing that. At least let me pay for some of it," Hermione sighed.

"No," he said smirking at her. She rolled her eyes.

"Yes, that would be rude of me not too," Hermione said, her mouth forming a tight line.

"No, you aren't paying for anything. It's already been decided that I am going to pay," Draco said stubbornly.

"Stop being like that. I'm not completely broke. I will pay for something whether you like it or not," Hermione huffed. Rose snuggled into Hermione's arm.

"Stop being a bossy 'I think I'm better than everyone else' stubborn little know it all!"

"You are utterly impossible, Draco," Hermione said, holding Rose close to her.

"You are unbearable," he retorted back to her.

"I think you are an insufferable git," Hermione said back to him. Rose started giggling.

"I love you, Hermione,"

Her eyes widened, "You what?"

"Hermione, I still love you. I have never fallen out of love with you, I was just in denial for five years. Please give me a second chance," He said to her. She looked down at the table.

"Draco… I… How could you still love me? I was horrible to you, up until a week or two ago," Hermione said confused.

"That's what it took for me to realize I couldn't lose you, or Rose again,"

Hermione looked into his eyes and smiled meekly.

"So are we official?"


	20. Perfect Dates and Unhappy Endings

"Draco… I…" Hermione looked at the table. "I just don't know. Everything is just going way too fast for my liking."

"Hermione, I know that this is sudden but, I want to start over with you. Please Mione?" Draco said and reached out across the table, taking her hand in his. He put on a pouty face and made his eyes wide.

Hermione smiled at his attempts, but she was too unsure of whether to go back to him or not. "I'll think about it, ok? I just feel like we should take some time to get to know each other before things get too serious."

Draco's face when back to normal and he nodded, "I don't want you to feel like I'm pressuring you. I will wait until you are ready to be with me, again."

"Draco, you don't know how much that means to me," Hermione said, hugging Rose tightly. Draco smiled slightly. "Now where is that waitress? I'm starved!"

O.o.O

Hermione chose a house salad from the menu since, it was the cheapest thing on it and ordered Rose a kid's chicken nugget meal. Draco rolled his eyes at her attempts to be frugal and ordered her the most expensive steak instead. Hermione hadn't realized that when Draco said two premium meal steaks one of them was for her; when the food got there, she almost got into a huge argument with him. Although, not wanting the steak to go to waste, she reluctantly ate it and shot dirty looks at Draco every so often. He smirked, knowing that she secretly was relieved that he ordered her something other than a salad.

Rose ate her star shaped chicken nuggets happily and sang Twinkle Twinkle Little Star about a dozen times. Draco was getting sick of it; Hermione told her to sing quieter, but it did not bother her as much as it did Draco. He let out a long held in sigh of relief when she had eaten all of the nuggets and stopped singing; he desperately hoped that there wasn't a song for sticks or anything else that might resemble a French fry.

The rest of the time they ate quietly. Rose had nothing else to sing about, and there was something awkward in the air between Draco and Hermione. Hermione had no idea what to say to Draco, and he was waiting for her to bring up the next topic for a conversation.

It became less awkward as the restaurant began to fill up and muffled conversations could be heard from other tables. Hermione decided to talk about simple things like about work and how she wanted to enroll Rose in Muggle Primary School in September before she went to Hogwarts. Draco didn't think that was necessary for his daughter. Rose was a wizard and wouldn't need to use any of the rubbish the Muggle teachers taught the kids at school. He just nodded at Hermione, not wanting to upset her by speaking his mind. Although, Hermione could tell he was upset with that by the way he was gripping the fork in his hand; his already pale knuckles were turning bone white.

It would have made her laugh, but suddenly people appeared with cameras and swarmed around their table. People were firing questions at them and all of their words were mashed together; Draco and Hermione couldn't make out what any of the questions were. There were so many flashes of light from the cameras the people had, that Hermione had to remind herself that they had not been in a car crash and weren't about to have a head on collision; the lights were not headlights and they were not about to get killed (or at least she hoped).

Draco stood up pointing his wand at all of the reporters and shouted at them to go away or he would hex the whole lot of them. Hermione followed suit, clutching Rose in her arms. Rose hid her face in her mother's chest, scared of all the commotion. The reporters continued to harass them, knowing Draco most likely wouldn't do anything.

"Apparate to the Manor," Draco whispered to Hermione, hoping none of the reporters had heard him. He didn't want them to follow them home. She nodded and Apparated with Rose. He waited until they were gone and, then left the reporters without any useful information that he might have given them if they weren't so annoying.

When he got home he found Hermione sitting on one of the couches looking scared. Her heart beat was so fast it was ringing through her ears and pounded hard in her chest. She was afraid of what story would appear in the _Daily Prophet_ about her and Draco. She was not used to being publically ridiculed and it was seriously starting to get to her head.

"Did it feel like this to you when people ridiculed your family after the War?" Hermione asked Draco, staring at a wall. Her eyes were glassy and unfocused and he thought that she might burst into tears at any second.

He came over to her and sat next to her in the empty spot on the couch. Putting an arm around her, he sighed, "Hermione, it was hard, but it wasn't the end of the world for me or anyone else in my family. Yes it was better when we were just mentioned in _Witch Weekly_ but, we never beat ourselves up about any unfavorable things the _Daily Prophet_ had started to say about us. Hermione you shouldn't care about what people say about you as long as you are happy with yourself. I for one know you were a faithful wife to the Weasel; everyone just assumed the wrong thing. Honestly, I'm sorry. If Rose was anyone else's daughter, besides for Potter's maybe, no one would care as much," Draco said hugging Hermione. His face looked strained as he whispered, "If she was anyone else's daughter you wouldn't have been in this mess in the first place right? You would have told them that you were having their child and this whole mess with Weasel boy wouldn't have happened."

"I'm so sorry, Draco," Hermione said trying to wipe away the tears that were forming in her eyes. "I really am."

"I know…" he said, his voice distant, but not mad. "I think I'm ready to forgive you now."

Hermione looked up at him wide eyed and smiled meekly, "Are you sure? You don't have to ever forgive me for what I have done."

"Of course I'm sure. How can we ever go forward if I am still upset over this for the rest of my life? Look, I understand, ok? If I was you I probably would have done the same thing," he said and hugged her. She put her head on his shoulder and sighed.

"My mother said she would watch Rose tomorrow night, if we wanted to do something. We could go out to a fancy restaurant or if you wanted to go to that Muggle place where you go and watch movies- I mean you don't strike me as a club kind of girl, but we can do that, too, if you want," Draco said and smirked once Hermione broke from his embrace.

"I- we don't have to do anything Draco. I don't want your mother to feel like she has to watch Rose. I'm quite content with staying here," Hermione said.

"Mother wants some time alone with Rose, Hermione. You wouldn't be doing her any favors by not letting her watch her only grandchild," Draco said stubbornly. "Come on, why won't you go on a date with me?"

"It's not that I don't Draco. I just think that you made your mother watch Rose,"

"I asked her, Hermione, and she said she would be delighted to. It's not like I held her at wand point and told her if she didn't watch Rose for me I would _Crucio_ her. You are so stubborn!"

"Fine I'll go out with you tomorrow night, ok? Just stop being so dramtic. I can see that we are just going to get into an argument that I am either going to lose or I will not want to speak to you for a while. I don't care what we do as long as it's nothing too fancy or expensive. I don't go out partying and drinking, so anything having to do with that is out of the question. I think going to the movie theater is for cheesy teenagers whose relationships don't really mean anything. Honestly don't bother on getting me any flowers because Rose has allergies to almost everything except roses and it is a dumb thing to be wasting money on," Hermione said and rolled her chocolate eyes. Draco was always so adamant to get what he wanted.

"That is a lot of stipulations, but I'll see what I can do on such short notice. You really should lift the money stipulation, because all the places we could go out to dinner are only for the upper class," Draco said, hoping she would change her mind about the money aspect. Maybe he would conveniently forget that she had mentioned anything about money.

"I'm not going to. We should be able to do something at a normal person's price range. Besides, why would you even want to spend money on me anyways? I'm still just a Muggle Born," Hermione said.

"Yes, Hermione, you may be just a Muggle Born wizard, but you are my Muggle Born," Draco said. Hermione's cheeks blushed crimson and couldn't decide if she was happy or upset with his comment.

O.o.O

Hermione had woken up in the afternoon again and spent the rest of the time getting ready for her date with Draco that night.

She found a shopping bag with her name written on it and took out the contents inside. There was a teal halter neck top that had a little white flower print on it and a pair of white jean shorts. There were teal sequined flip flops and a white knit bolero.

Sighing she put the clothes on and looked in the mirror. The outfit looked wonderful on her and she wondered where Draco got such a talent for picking out Muggle clothing. She hoped it didn't cost him too much, but knowing Draco it could have cost a fortune.

She applied little makeup to look more natural and spent two hours trying to defrizz her hair. Now it fell down to her mid back in silky curls, nearly the way Rose's did. All the effort had paid off and she beamed at her appearance in the mirror.

Rose came into the room and squealed, "You look so pretty, Mummy! Daddy asked me to see if you were ready to go. I wanna come, too!"

Hermione went over to her daughter and ruffled her hair, "Thank you, sweetie. I'm ready but you are going to stay here with Narcissa," Rose pouted and crossed her arms. "Don't worry you two will have lots of fun. I think she told me that she had a surprise waiting for you and she would love to play tea party with the real tea, again."

Rose's face lit up instantly, "Ok Mummy, I'll miss you!" She scampered out the door leaving it wide open.

Draco walked into the room and nearly gasped, "Hermione you look beautiful."

Hermione turned around and smiled at him, "Thanks, and thank you for the outfit. I didn't know you were into Muggle clothes yourself. Was there a reason you wanted us to match?" She looked at his teal polo and white and teal plaid shorts and giggled at the matching colors.

"No problem. I don't wear Muggle clothing in public usually, but I find them more comfortable than robes or a suit. Plus you and Rose look cute in them. As for the matching, well, I thought it would be more romantic and I like the teal color. It also matches where we are going," Draco said and smiled and grabbed Hermione's hand before she could say anything. "Close your eyes," he whispered.

She shut her eyes and felt the familiar feeling of Apparation. Draco led her blindly for a minute and then stopped. Hermione heard the sound of moving water, and a warm breeze caressed her face.

"Open," Draco whispered into her ear.

She opened her eyes and blinked for a minute. She was facing a white pristine beach; the clear teal waves crashed in the sand and the sun was turning pink. Hermione turned around to find Draco in an elegant pavilion connected to a large summer beach home. He grinned at her as he poured two glasses of red wine.

She walked into the pavilion up to him.

"Just so you know we already owned the island and the house elves made the food," he said motioning towards the table that was filled with different kinds of pasta and meat. "We are not seeing a cheesy movie and I didn't buy you any flowers. Also, I hope you aren't going to get totally wasted tonight on the wine, but I can't control that," He said and smiled. He pulled out a chair for Hermione and motioned her to sit down.

"Thank you, it's lovely, Draco," Hermione said, a little shyly as she took a bite of chicken parmesan.

"It's not a problem," he said smiling. "So tell me about yourself, Hermione."

O.o.O

Several hours later, the sun had already set, and Draco and Hermione were still talking about everything. Many different subjects came up and Hermione noticed they had very similar viewpoints on a lot of topics. He was still the charming man she remembered from Hogwarts.

When it was time to go back to the Manor, Hermione ran up and hugged Draco, "I just wanted to say that no one has ever done anything like this for me before. This has been one of the best nights of my entire life, and I just wanted to say there are no words to describe how thankful I am."

Draco smiled and pulled her into a long passionate kiss. When they broke away he caressed her cheek, "I love you, Hermione. I would do anything for you."

"Draco, I-I think… that I… I love you, too," Hermione said hesitantly.

Draco's face broke out into a huge grin as they Disapparated back to the Manor.

They walked into the main room hand in hand and grinning only to find a hysterically sobbing Narcissa and an angry Lucius trying to comfort her.

"What happened?" Draco said running up to his parents. Hermione walked slowly towards them getting worried.

Narcissa threw Draco the afternoon the _Daily Prophet _article. Hermione looked over his shoulder and read it with him. It read:

**Escaped Loon From St. Mungo's Psychiatric Ward**

_This afternoon at about 12:27 pm Ronald Bilius Weasley escaped from the Psychiatric Ward in St. Mungo's. He is not considered armed with a wand yet, but is highly dangerous. He has been involved in the abuse of his ex-stepdaughter, Rose Malfoy, causing severe damage to her. He has only been in rehabilitation for a few weeks and his problems are still evident. If anyone has any information regarding his whereabouts please call the Auror department in the Ministry of Magic._

"Somehow he broke in," Narcissa sobbed. "I tried to get her back, but he had a wand to her head threatening to kill her. He took Rose!"

O.o.O

**I'm so sorry with the lack of updates but, I'm afraid it will be at least a week or two before I post again- at least until spring break. Also, I have two other Dramione stories that are going to be posted eventually. One is about a Pureblood Hermione and the other is about Hermione disappearing, marrying Draco, and then returning after several years with children. Do you think I should post one soon or wait until this story is finished? If so which one?**


	21. Lost and Found

Hermione sobbed into Draco's arms, longing for her missing daughter. This wasn't some kind of joke Rose pulled, and she had no one else to go to; she was already at the Malfoy's house. If Rose was never found or worse, dead, she didn't know how she was going to survive. Rose was her pride and joy- the one thing she loved more than anything else in the entire world. She prayed to every God and powerful deceased wizard she could think of to bring her little girl back home, safe and sound.

"We will find her, Hermione," Draco whispered into her hair, tears starting to form in his eyes as well. "We just have to…"

Narcissa called the Auror's office, the _Daily Prophet_, and several Muggle Police stations in the area reporting that Rose was kidnapped by Ron Weasley, on the new telephone they had finally gotten a few weeks earlier. She Flooed all of her influential Pureblood friends, telling them to report anything if they saw something regarding Ron and her granddaughter.

Lucius sat there uncomfortable. He was upset at Rose's disappearance, but there was not much he could do, being on house arrest. He still disliked Hermione slightly, and had no idea how to console her or his son. Narcissa was still on the telly pone (or whatever dumb Muggle device's name was that Draco insisted they get due to Rose) calling everyone she had ever met, so he remained quiet, waiting for someone to speak to him.

Several hours later, Narcissa shook him from his doze on the couch. There were tear stains still on her cheeks from crying as he looked up at her a little dazed. Hermione and Draco had fallen asleep in each other's embrace on a different couch, which caused him to smirk.

"Come on," Narcissa whispered to her husband. She motioned him to get off the couch and follow her to their bedroom. "It's best not to disturb them any further and nothing is being published in the _Prophet_ until tomorrow morning. We should get some rest to prepare for tomorrow."

Lucius grumbled as he got off the couch and groggily followed his wife to their bedroom.

O.o.O

Rose opened her eyes, with difficulty, peering out at her surroundings. It was dimly lit and smelled terrible. There was a quarter of an inch of dirty, smelly water layering the floor, which soaked through the back of her clothes. Some damaged, mismatching furniture was strewed about the narrow room, that looked more like a tunnel then a room; it seemed to go on a lot further than she could see.

Rose extended her arm, weakly and it hit some kind of chain linked fence. It was on all sides of her and, as she focused hard she could make out the black fencing on top of her, too. Her muscles hurt and she wanted her Mummy and Daddy to come save her from this fenced in box she was in.

A few minutes later she heard sloshing footsteps echoing off of the walls and became very hopeful. Maybe it was her family coming to get her.

Unfortunately, it was one of the people whom she never wished to see again. Ronald Weasley appeared in front of her cage with an evil glint in his eye. She tensed up and her eyes were filled with terror. He smiled viciously at her as he pulled up a metal folding chair and sat down on it in front of the cage.

"Oh, Rosie… now you are where you belong. In a cage like a wild animal," Ron said maliciously and smirked at her expression. He slapped the cage and started laughing as Rose started to whimper. "Better get used to it because this is where you will be staying forever. Besides, you don't deserve the luxury of the Malfoy home."

"My Mummy and Daddy are gonna come get me!" Rose shouted, her lip was visibly trembling as she tried not to cry in front of her mean ex-stepfather. She grabbed onto the cage and started shaking it.

"No, they aren't, Rosie. You are mine, again, and I will never let them take you back. Trying to kill you was the stupidest mistake of my life; it cost me my wife and my daughter to the stupid Ferret. Now your idiot mother will have to live with the fact that you are still alive, but will never see you again," He said dazed with a hurt expression in his eyes. "I told him he would pay for taking everything away from me."

"I'm kinda happy you hurt me lots!" Rose said defiantly, causing Ron to look mad.

"Why's that you little brat?" Ron said. He didn't know whether to be upset with himself for hurting her or upset at her for trying to make something bad into something good.

"If you didn't hurt me, I would've never met my real Daddy. My real Daddy loves me and would never hurt me like you did! He is going to get me; Mummy, too!" Rose said. Tears started falling down her cheeks. She was scared, dirty, and missed her family. Being with Ron made everything one hundred times worse.

"You stupid ungrateful little bitch! I have taken care of you for four years and this is how you think of me? Draco Malfoy could never love a filthy little Halfblood like you!" Ron said, his eyes burning red with hatred at what she had just said. He kicked the cage, causing Rose to scream and cry harder. "You better behave because I don't have to feed you today!"

"I hate you! Daddy said he didn't care 'bout blood anymore!" Rose screamed. Her Daddy told her that he loved her for who she was; he didn't care if she was not a Pureblood like him and his family.

"I'm tired of talking to you Rose because you are a bitch," Ron said calmly getting up from the chair he was sitting on, and Rose flinched. "Don't be sad, Rosie. All dogs belong in cages."

As he walked farther down the tunnel he could hear the rattling of the metal cage bars, and the wailing of Rose echoing through the walls.

O.o.O

"_Hermione, I'm so sorry," Harry said coming out of a hole in the ground. Tears were streaming down his cheeks as Hermione watched, not being able to think. He was holding a small child wrapped in a blue sheet, and she started crying._

"_No, no, no! No, Harry… that's… No!" Hermione shouted, collapsing onto her knees. Tears blinded her eyes as she sobbed._

"_Hermione, I'm so sorry," he said._

"_Let me see her… I want to see my baby," Hermione choked out between her sobs._

_Harry kneeled down to her level and lifted away the sheet covering Rose's body. He looked away, not wanting to see Hermione's reaction or the dead little girl in his arms. _

_Hermione wiped the tears out of her eyes and looked down at her daughter's mangled body. She started screaming and crying, once again…_

Draco shook Hermione as she screamed from a nightmare in her sleep. Rose had been missing for a week and a half, and every night Hermione would have the recurring nightmare about how Harry would find her daughter dead. Hermione would stay in bed and cry herself to sleep, all day, continuing the cycle of her recurring nightmares.

"Mione," Draco said softly as he shook her from her stressful slumber. "Mione wake up!"

Hermione jolted awake and started thrashing her body, while screaming. Draco held her arms down and wiped the tears off her cheeks.

"Hermione stop, it was just a nightmare. Please, stop, it's ok Rose isn't dead, Mione," Draco said soothingly. Eventually, she stopped thrashing and started crying.

"See, it was just a dream," Draco said sitting on the bed next to her. He caressed her wet cheek, brushing the tears away.

"Even though it was just a nightmare, does not mean she is still alive, Draco!" Hermione sobbed.

"Hermione, please have faith. Harry will find Rose, and you know that. People all over England know she is missing and are keeping a lookout for Ron. In my heart I know she is still alive, Mione," Draco said, almost pleadingly.

"I know…" Hermione said. She stopped crying and pulled the covers up to her neck.

"Ok, good night," Draco said kissing her forehead tenderly and started to walk out of the room.

"Wait!" Hermione called. Draco turned around and looked at her. "Please stay, I don't want to be alone."

Draco smiled and walked to the other side of the bed. He climbed in slowly and pulled the covers up. Hermione snuggled closer to him and he put his arm around her waist protectively. She sighed happily and fell asleep in a matter of seconds. Draco played with her wildly untamed curls until he fell asleep, too.

The rest of the night Hermione slept peacefully. She had a nice dreamless sleep- something that had not happened since Rose had gone missing.

O.o.O

The next morning Narcissa barged into Hermione's room excitedly, "Hermione wake- oh!"

Hermione rubbed her eyes, while Draco sat up and yawned. The light streamed in through the window, showing the sun had just risen, and Draco sighed when he saw the clock on the end table read 7:17.

"I didn't know you two were sleeping together now," Narcissa said winking at her son, still smiling.

"Yes, we were just sleeping," he said rolling his eyes. Narcissa chuckled knowing that they had not done anything.

"We got some news from the Auror's Department about twenty minutes ago. Someone called and saw Ron Weasley in a Muggle grocery store stealing food. The Aurors tracked him down and are watching him until he goes back to where he has Rose. We should have her back safe and sound in the next day or two!" Narcissa said happily.

Hermione and Draco smiled. She pulled him into a hug, "You were right, she is going to be ok!" Tears of joy started falling from her eyes.

"You two should get down to the Auror's office to be there when they find Rose," Narcissa said to them. "Harry called and wanted to talk to you, Hermione."

Two hours later, Draco and Hermione Apparated to the Auror's Department in the Ministry of Magic. They walked through the doors hand in hand and were blinded as they walked in. There were reporters for the _Daily Prophet_ everywhere flashing cameras at the pair.

A man came over with a microphone, "Draco Malfoy how do you feel about getting your daughter back soon?"

Draco smiled, "I couldn't be happier. I miss her so much. We are hoping for the best because our family couldn't live without her."

There were several murmurs of 'aww' in the crowd as Draco continued to talk about his daughter to the cameras. Hermione watched for a few minutes smiling, but then went to go find Harry to see what he wanted to talk about with her.

She went behind the desk and walked down to his office (since she was technically still an Auror she didn't think there was anything wrong with going into the private behind the counter work place). She knocked on his door and he opened it up, happy to see his best friend.

"Mione it's been a few weeks," he said, and she launched herself into his arms. "I'm sorry this took so long just to see where he has been keeping Rose."

"It's ok Harry. As long as you find her I won't care how long it takes to get her back," Hermione said still hugging him.

"We found where she is at, Hermione. And that's kind of what I wanted to talk to you about," Harry said breaking their embrace. He looked kind of uncomfortable and Hermione's heart dropped.

"No…. no!" Hermione shouted, thinking he was trying to tell her that Ron had killed Rose.

"No, she is alive, Hermione. Or at least right now, she is. It's just that the Auror team followed Ron taking his stolen items into an abandoned sewer hole,"

Hermione let out a deep breath, "Then why does that matter, Harry?"

"Well, it was the same hole from your nightmare that you told me about; the one where I come out a hole holding Rose's body. I just wanted to warn you, so you didn't freak out. I'm sure nothing is going to happen, but we have the place surrounded just in case…"

O.o.O

**Sorry it took so long to update, but it will probably take a few weeks for me to update again. There are only a few more chapters left, since the story is starting to wind down. Just thought I should give you all a heads up.**


	22. The Perfect Ending

Hermione stood there looking shocked and pale. There were so many different scenarios playing though her head at what could happen to Rose. She was an emotional wreck as it was, and she didn't know how to respond to what Harry told her. She couldn't help but wonder if her recurring nightmare was a vision of the future. She prayed to Merlin that she was no Seer and it wasn't real.

"Hermione? Please, say something. We will bring her back alive if it's the last thing I do!" Harry said patting her shoulder. She looked at him with wide brown eyes full of different emotions. She still remained silent, as he rubbed slow circles on her back.

"I… I … I don't know what to say right now, Harry. I don't… I can't even think right now. My body is literally numb. I do not know whether to cry or to be angry or hopeful. Everything is going haywire. I just can't do this anymore Harry. I can't live like this anymore- I can't wait any longer because the longer we wait the greater the chances that Ron will get tired of her and kill her. Harry, you know as well as any parent knows that you live for your children. When your child isn't living what can you live for; what are you supposed to live for? How does anyone survive the death of their child, Harry? I… I don't… th-think I could, and people have to live like that every day for the rest of their lives, wondering if they would have made sure that they would drive their child to school, or locked the front door, or g-got h-home fr-from their d-date five minutes earlier if their child would still be alive…" Hermione said and started sobbing on Harry's shoulder. He held her close and stroked her hair in a brotherly sort of way.

"Rose is still alive, Mione, so stop talking about her like she is gone already. I will assemble the Aurors right now if you want, and we will go over all possible tactics and safety precautions. We should be ready to get Rose by tomorrow morning. If we are lucky we can catch Ron sleeping and put the Full Body Bind spell on him before he can even put up a fight," Harry said as Hermione stopped hugging him. Hermione admired that Harry never gave up hope for anything. That was a trait that she always admired about him from the time when he rescued her from the troll in the girl's bathroom in first year. She wished she had that optimistic sense of thinking all the time like she did back before the Second Wizarding War, but things had changed- drastically- and she was not the same Hermione as she was back in Hogwarts. She wasn't even the same Hermione who called Ronald Weasley her husband.

"I don't understand how things got this bad, Harry. If Ron would have acted like a civilized person and just accepted that he did the wrong thing by hurting Rose, he most likely would have gotten a milder sentence. He would still be Rosie's Daddy and everything would have worked out if he got treatment at St. Mungo's for his alcohol addiction… But, despite being happy with Ron, I'm glad it didn't end up working out. I never truly loved Ron- well that's not right, I did love him just… not like I love Draco now. With Ron… everything was about him, but with Draco, it's about _us_. I just… I don't know how to explain it. It just feels…" Hermione said.

"Right…" Harry said finishing her sentence. "You don't have to explain your relationship with Draco to me, Hermione. You are allowed to love anyone you want. Don't think for a second that you need my permission to love someone, because even if you happened to marry dimwitted Goyle, you would still be my best friend- even if I couldn't stand to be in the same room with him. Besides, Malfoy seems to be a good guy; he loves Rose with all of his heart, and he has treated you well. That is enough for me… to know that you are happy and cared for," Harry said to Hermione, who flung her arms around him and wrapped him into a tight bear hug, tears flowing freely down her cheeks. "You may not be my sister in blood, but you will always be my sister in my heart."

"Oh, Harry, what in Merlin's name would I do without you?"

"You would still be the same smart, strong, bookworm who is capable of anything if she puts her mind to it," Harry said to Hermione. "That and it would suck for Rose and any of her future siblings because both you and Draco are only children, so they wouldn't have any cousins to play with or any aunts and uncles to spoil them."

"Who said anything about Rose getting more siblings? Getting Rose back home safe and sound is definitely my main priority right now, and Draco and I are just going out, as those Muggle teenagers would say," Hermione said rolling her eyes at him.

"Speaking of Draco, you should probably go home to tell him we are getting Rose back tomorrow morning. Be here to meet us at 6:00 a.m. I swear, Hermione, my team of Aurors are the best in England. We will figure out a plan!" Harry said, more to reassure himself that Rose would be brought home safely than Hermione. He wouldn't be able to forgive himself if the only time he let Hermione Granger down was the time when he failed to bring her daughter home alive. (Ok well maybe not the first time because he assumed that he let her down every time he waited until the last minute to finish his homework and essays. To any normal person, who wasn't totally obsessed in their schoolwork, it would be the first time he would let them down.)

O.o.O

Hermione went to the Manor and told Draco and his parents the Aurors were going into the place where Rose was held hostage. Draco picked Hermione up and twirled her around in a circle; when he put her down he kissed her gently and passionately. He was so excited that Rose was going to come back home to them, and it made Hermione happy that he absolutely loved his daughter.

Hermione had tried to go to bed that night, but she couldn't- even with Draco there with her. She kept thinking about what would happen the next morning. Harry had given her some hope, so she wasn't thinking the worst anymore, but she still didn't think the situation would have the picture perfect ending she hoped it would have. In a perfect world this wouldn't have happened in the first place- at least not to an innocent child that had no influence of what her mother had done to keep her paternity a secret. It wasn't a picture perfect world, so there was no use in wondering 'what if.' Hermione knew that better than anyone, yet she still couldn't help but wonder what would have happened if things would have turned out differently- if she would have acted like a true Gryffindor and just told Draco about Rose.

Luckily her thoughts got the best of her, and she drifted off into a deep, dreamless sleep.

O.o.O

The next morning Hermione was woken up by someone nudging her gently. She swatted the person's hand away and groaned. It was the first night that she hadn't had the dream about Rose dying in over a week. Maybe it was a sign- or at least she hoped it was. Thinking of Rose, she abruptly sat up and looked at the clock on the nightstand. It was 5:29, and she mentally scolded herself for not setting an alarm. There was no way she would be able to get ready in thirty one minutes.

Draco was sitting at the foot of the bed, already ready, with his hair nicely combed back.

"Why didn't you wake me up when you got up?" Hermione nearly yelled. She ran out of bed and magically combed her hair and magically picked out an outfit.

"I thought that you needed some sleep, Mione. You haven't had a proper night's sleep in weeks and I thought you might need some time to recuperate yourself. I had the house elves prepare your breakfast already," Draco said and smiled.

"Not on the day where Rose is coming back home to us, Draco," Hermione scolded him, and put her clothes on while she was going to walk out the door, leaving a trail of pajamas to the door. Draco made the clothes go into the laundry chute so the house elves would clean them later, and followed her down to the kitchen.

Hermione shoveled the eggs and bacon into her mouth, barely tasting any of it. Hermione looked at the clock and grabbed Draco's arm before Apparating to Harry's office, with a piece of toast in her other hand.

When they got to the office, the whole Auror staff was going through different plans and ideas that had been formed the previous night. Draco went up to talk to Blaise Zabini and Hermione went to go find Harry. All she could do was nod at Harry because both of them had no idea what to say to each other. Both were high on adrenaline, and both were scared that they would fail at bringing Rose home safely.

"It's time," Harry said loudly, so the entire room could hear him. The room became silent until the Aurors started Apparating to the sewer hole in which Rose was kept, and the familiar crack noise sounded like fireworks exploding.

Soon only Harry, Hermione, and Draco were left in the room together. They stared at each other awkwardly for a second before Hermione Apparated away, leaving the boys. Harry and Draco looked at each other and Apparated at the same time.

By the time Harry, Hermione, and Draco had gotten to the sewer hole, all of the Aurors had already gotten through the tunnels to pursue the chase of Ronald Weasley.

"What do we do now, Harry?" Hermione asked quietly. She felt like she was going to throw up, and the rushed breakfast didn't help anything.

Harry looked at her and sighed. "The only thing there is to do is to wait here, I guess, and just hope for the best. The Healers should be arriving any second now; just in case."

"After everything we have been through, I thought you would at least have the decency to know what you are doing, Potter," Draco said rolling his eyes. Harry chose to ignore him, because Draco was technically right. The only problem was to do that, he would need a few weeks' worth of time, and that was something Harry didn't have to work with. Unfortunately, he had to use guess and check tactics and pray to Merlin that Rose would be ok.

The three of them sat down, and Hermione started picking the grass and tying the blades into knots. It was just something to pass the time, and it was a way for her brain to be focusing something other than wondering if her daughter was going to live or not. Draco sat with a stone, emotionless face, remaining still. Harry hummed to himself, and Draco was trying his hardest not to punch him in the face.

It seemed like they were sitting there for hours, even though it had only been less than twenty minutes. The three of them were starting to get restless with anticipation.

O.o.O

Down in the sewer, Blaise Zabini was the first person to spot Ron Weasley in the tunnels. He sent a signal, and soon all the Aurors surrounded all the possible escape routes for Ron, except for the one that led directly to the place in front of where Harry, Hermione, and Draco were sitting.

Very quietly, Blaise crept into the area where Ron was. Ron was holding a struggling Rose Malfoy, trying to force her to eat some type of artificial meat product that made him gag just thinking about what it tasted like. Rose whined and screamed, but Ron was getting fed up with her. Blaise knew he had to intervene before something bad happened. He saw Ron's wand hanging out of his pants' back pocket, and knew he had to retrieve it.

"Accio Ronald Weasley's wand!" Blaise shouted and Ron's wand flew into his hand, causing Ron to jump in shock. Once he realized what was going on, he hit Rose on the head, causing her to pass out, and put a knife up to her neck.

"If you or anyone else does any funny business I will kill her," Ron said and laughed menacingly at Blaise and the Aurors surrounding him. "You will let me go up that tunnel and won't pursue me, or I will kill her."

Ron was pointing to the tunnel that they hadn't guarded; the one that led straight up to Harry. Blaise prayed that they would notice him come out of the tunnel before he actually got away. "Alright, Weasley. Everyone let him go."

"Oh, I know what you are going to do, Zabini. You are going to hex me when I turn around to walk out the tunnel. Well, I have already thought of that. If you try to hex me you might hit Rose," Ron said thinking he had gotten everything taken care of. He started walking backwards down the tunnel. Blaise tried not to laugh, knowing that Harry would definitely notice him walking backwards.

When Ron finally made it to the back of the tunnel he was instantly hit by Hermione's Full Body Bind jinx, and fell onto his back with a thud. The Healers rushed up to Ron and gently lifted the unconscious Rose onto a medical stretcher, and started to perform healing spells.

Hermione had no time to process what was happening, but a female Healer came up to her and told her that Rose only had a minor concussion. Rose was going to be absolutely fine. Tears of happiness poured down Hermione's eyes and she hugged the healer out of gratitude.

Draco kissed Hermione and hugged her, knowing that Rose was going to be fine. Together they walked up to see Rose on the stretcher, sleeping from all the healing spells. They both caressed their daughter's cheek, knowing that everything was going to be ok.

For the first time in Hermione's life she was never gladder to see Ron get carted out by the Aurors rumored to get the Dementor's Kiss.

O.o.O

A few months later it was time for the big Malfoy Hogwarts Reunion Pool Party. Everyone was invited, instead of just the people who were in Slytherin and their family members who could have been in different houses.

Hermione was in the pool wearing a red halter neck swimsuit with a lion on the middle of it and red bottoms. She didn't want to be overly Gryffindor; just enough so the swim suit wouldn't look cheesy.

Rose wore a little bikini that was half red and half green with a snake on the red side and a lion on the green side and a bathing suit skirt that's ruffles alternated between red and green. Red and green sequins were all over it. She had one green arm floaty and one red floaty on her arm.

Draco watched Rose jump into the pool, giggling as she splashed Hermione in the face. Hermione wiped the water off of her eyes and smiled at Rose before catching Draco's eye.

If someone would have told Draco that he had a daughter with Hermione Granger and would fall utterly in love with her, he would have thought they were completely off their rocker. Now he couldn't imagine what life would be like without his two perfect girls.

O.o.**The End**.o.O

I think this was a good place to end. I'm sorry it took so long to update, but here it is. In your review tell me if you think I should do an epilogue or not. Also read my Scorpius/Lily story **Not Without My Daughter**. First two chapters are the prologue; it's not going to be as choppy.


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